Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.This is a bonus podcast where we chat about RAJAR results for Q4 2023 with Alex Blakemore, newsroom producer at Markettiers. For those of you who aren’t aware of RAJAR - it was established in 1992 and operates the single audience measurement system for the radio industry in the United Kingdom.Each quarter, it publishes the listenership figures for UK radio. This offers a really interesting insight for PR people on how the UK public engages with this important channel.Before we start, a quick mention about the relaunch of PRmoment. If you take a look at PRmoment.com, you'll see a brand new design with lots of new features, hopefully, easier navigation and also the launch of our new subscription training service for senior folks within agencies' PRmoment Leaders. Do take a look and let us know if you like it. Thanks to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Highlights for this bonus pod include:2 mins “88.5% of the UK population listen to the radio each week- that’s around 49.5m adults.”“20.5 hours a week is the average listening time for live listening.”“Commercial ration is on the rise.”“13% of people are using catch-up radio.”4 mins The BBC has lost share in these most recent Rajar results. The BBC share is now 43%, down from 47% in Q3 2023.7 mins This is the first set of Rajar results since the BBC started using more syndicated programs across its radio stations in the afternoons.9 mins Alex talks us through some highlights of radio stations that have seen big increases in listenership in the last quarter.10 mins The continuing growth of podcast as a channel.11 mins Alex looks ahead to the Olympics and the Euros and the broadcast opportunities for PR people.12 mins Finally, Alex talks about potential interviews and story opportunities trends around the UK election later in the year, including the period of purdah.

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast. On the show today, we've got Matt Neale, Golin's global CEO. I first met Matt just after we launched PRmoment in around 2008 when he was co-CEO of Golin in London.Since then, Matt's moved to New York, been promoted goodness how many times and now runs Golin globally. It's great to see a Brit in a global role at a big global agency.Matt joined Golin in 2005 from its then sister agency Weber Shandwick - he was appointed joint MD of the London office alongside Jon Hughes.It worked out, and Golin London started to fly. Matt was promoted to President International in 2011 and was appointed global CEO in 2019. It’s been widely reported that Golin had revenues of approximately $300 m in 2022. Golin works predominantly in the consumer and healthcare sectors.Thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.Here is a summary of what Matt and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:2 mins Matt predicts whether Trump is going to win.6 mins Matt reflects on the news that BCW and Hill & Knowlton are going to merge to form Burson.11 mins Matt talks about the Group CEO role and how it's different from the CEO role.16 mins Matt reveals how the move to America came about.19.30 mins Will Matt be the last Brit to make it to hold one of America’s big PR jobs?20 mins What does America think of the UK now? “8 times out of 10 - when the UK makes it onto mainstream news - it’s about the Royal Family.”25 mins How much bigger are PR budgets in the US than in the UK?“A good rule of thumb is that the US PR budget is 10x the UK budget.”27 mins  Matt explains the reason behind the higher salaries in the US.29 mins  Matt gives his advice to anyone who's at the start of their PR agency CEO journey.35 mins Matt talks about how three people have mentored him: Fred Cook, David Brain and Andy Polansky.40 mins How has the PR agency model changed in recent years?43 mins Does Matt reckon he’ll ever live in the UK again?

Welcome to our January 2024 Review of PR Pitches and mergers & acquisitions in the UK PR scene with Andrew Bloch, where we will discuss the biggest, most seismic pitch wins and mergers and acquisitions that the PR sector has seen in 2023.Andrew is the lead consultant - PR, Social, Content and Influencer at the new business consultancy firm AAR and a partner at PCB Partners, where he advises on buying and selling marketing services agencies.Andrew was also co-founder and managing partner at PR agency Frank, before stepping back in 2020 to found Andrew Bloch & Associates.Before we start, a plug for our latest webinar launch; the topic for this one is “How to track the success of an earned media campaign." tickets are free and we’re putting this one on in partnership with our good friends at Carma. The event is promoted on the homepage of PRmoment.Thanks also so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.2 mins We kick off with some thoughts from Andrew and I on WPP’s merger of BCW and Hill&Knowlton“It’s really nice that they are honouring Harold Burson.”“It’s potentially going to be the biggest PR agency in the UK… taking them ahead of Brunswick.”“You rarely merge two firms together because they are doing so well.”“It's been reported that both of these firms had a tougher time in America; they’ve had a better time of it in the UK.”“It just makes sense. You don’t need that many agencies in one group, especially when they have that much overlap.”7 mins A discussion of January’s biggest PR pitch wins:The Dept for Science, Innovation and Tech appoint Unlimited and Pablo as lead creative and strategic partners, with Nelson Bostock Unlimited providing the PR support. Andrew pays tribute to Nelson Bostock co-founder Roger Nelson, who passed away recently.Iceland appoints Tangerine for creative consumer, corporate, sustainability, crisis and social.“A massive win for Tangerine.”The Savoy hires the PR agency Fox Communications to handle media relations, digital media, and influencers.“A lot of specialist agencies have done extremely well in the last few years.”Sudocrem appoints Brazen.Kidney Cancer and UK Reflo, the sustainable performance wear brand, appoint PR agency PHAOatley appointed Blurred for consumer, corporate and public affairs work following a 6-way pitch.  Nest - Britain's largest pension scheme backed by govt - also hire Blurred. Henkel appoints BCW (soon to be Burson!)  The Ministry of Justice appoint Kindred on £1.3m Luke “The Nuke” Littner -the teenage dart sensation who reached the final of the world championships, has appointed Soapbox London.Airbnb appoints The Romans. Previously, Hope&Glory has held the Airbnb account for nine years, and Andrew and Ben pay tribute to that body of work.Giff Gaff appoint Splendid for a strategic and creative comms brief.Stonegate Group - Pitch. The UK's largest pub company, operating nearly 5,000 pubs, includes brands like Slug & Lettuce and Walkabout. “It’s busy and this time of year is always busy. We’re still facing some of the challenges we saw last year...which is delaying decisions.”"Whenever there is a lack of confidence in the economy, there is a lack of confidence in making appointment decisions.”30 mins A round-up of PR’s January’s M&A activity“2024

 Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast. On the show today, I’m chatting with Sharon Bange, joint managing director at Kindred.Sharon has been at Kindred for an extraordinary 20 years. In that time, the business has seen huge change, including nearly going out of business when the then-new Conservative government came into power in 2010. It’s one of those firms that has consistently punched above its weight when it comes to creative, award-winning work.Kindred is a consumer PR firm that has a fee income of £3 million and 35 employees.Before we start, we’ve got some huge news - you need to enter The PRmoment Awards 2024 quickly.There are some exciting changes this year; we’ve tweaked the categories, refined the entry form and with no additional entry fee, we’ve launched a regional champions scheme so we can reach the work right across the UK. The final entry deadline is 26th January.Thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.2 mins Sharon talks about why she originally wanted to be a social worker, rather than work in PR?4 mins Sharon talks about why she’s currently undertaking a Psychology Master's.7.30 mins Has an increased knowledge of psychology made Sharon view PR campaigns differently?8.30 mins Sharon has spent 20 years at Kindred. How come?“It’s not been one job. There have been many different guises over the years.”“When you’ve been somewhere that long, you help shape the values of the place.”“It’s not that I’ve never had a reason to leave…it’s that there’s always been lots of reasons to stay.”13 mins. We covered it in 2019 when Sharon previously came on the show, but briefly, she talks us through how and why Kindred, with a fee income of approximately £8/9 million at the time, lost 90% of its clients in a couple of months back in 2010.“90% of the clients were in the public sector…by the summer, the business had been completely decimated.”18 mins Sharon reveals her in hindsight lessons of her career1. Don’t be a clone“20 years ago, I felt the pressure to conform to how I thought PR people should be…it was still trouser suits back then.”2. Question everything“At Kindred, we want and expect people to have more of a voice; it’s their agency, too.”3. Know your role as an employer “We’re a business, an employer. Not a family.”4. People are specialists, not generalists, and that’s fine“We don’t have generalists any more. We have multi-specialists.”29 mins How has PR changed?“There are more people with deep expertise that make PR more sophisticated.”31 mins Does Sharon worry about the current state of the media?33 mins How has Kindred kept its creative edge after all these years?34 mins. How tough was the process of becoming a B Corp for Kindred?

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast. On the show today, I’m chatting with Ashwani Singla, founding managing partner of Astrum - Reputation Advisory. Astrum is an Indian PR firm which specialises in reputation management and corporate communications.It employs 30 people in India and one in America!Ashwani set up Astrum in 2015, previously he worked for the likes of Genesis Burson Marsteller and Penn Schoen Berland.Most of the listeners of this podcast are in Europe, so I thought it would be good to get an Indian perspective on how technology is likely to change PR. The scale of India’s technology sector is obviously huge, and it’s interesting to get a perspective from a country whose GDP is growing at over 7%, compared to the UK’s at about 0.5%.Before we start, we’ve got some huge news - The PRmoment Awards 2024 are OPEN! The final entry deadline is on January 26th.There are some exciting changes this year; we’ve tweaked the categories, refined the entry form and with no additional entry fee, we’ve launched a regional champions scheme so we can reach the work right across the UK. Do check out the PRmoment Awards microsite.Also, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.Here is a summary of what Ashwani and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:2 mins Astrum recently published a report on how communicators can navigate the digital disruption we’re seeing currently. Ashwani talks us through the three conclusions coming out of that report.3 mins The report was titled “Technology Reshaping Communicators?” What were the lessons from the report about how AI is likely to change the framework for effective reputation management?9 mins How are consumers responding to AI-produced content in India?“Content consumption is going to become more personalised, experiential, and immersive.”11 mins Does AI mean that reputation management as a business function requires a reboot?“Social science, data science: to be able to assimilate information and patterns quickly to be able to create content.”“You must be proficient at making videos…visual storytelling is the next skill you must acquire.”14 mins Ashwani talks about the example of Prime Minister Modi as a 360-degree communicator.16mins “Largely our consumption of content is going to go through the mobile phone.”18 mins What are the dominant channels on mobile in India?19 mins Where does India see itself from a global economic and political influence perspective? “India sees itself as the voice of the global South.”“India is not dependent on exports like China, it is largely a domestic economy. That makes it unique and a robust, stable economy.”25 mins Are we seeing a change in how consumers use social media? Closed digital channels such as WhatsApp are ever more popular. That has huge implications for how brands use social media.27 mins Aswani talks about how deepfake content has already become an industry and how it was used in the Bangladesh elections."Big tech has become a big risk for governments…so compliance is going to play a very big role in the reputation (of big tech firms.)”34 mins Do we have enough good senior in-house corporate comms decision-makers to lead the PR sector through this period of huge change?“I see a FOMO factor in the (PR) industry.”

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast. On the show today, I’m chatting with Lewis Iwu, founding partner at Purpose Union, about the intersection of Purpose, ESG and CSR.Are the terms interchangeable? Has Purpose superseded CSR and how much confusion is there both amongst communicators and consumers about the crossover between these terms?Purpose Union was co-founded by Lewis in 2019, has about 20 employees and previous clients include Natwest, Sky and The Wellcome Trust. The agency specialises in corporate counsel and communications strategy. All its work is purpose-related.Before we start, we’ve got some huge news - The PRmoment Awards 2024 are now - OPEN!There are some exciting changes this year; we’ve tweaked the categories and refined the entry form, and with no additional entry fee, we’ve launched a regional champions scheme so we can reach the work right across the UK. The final entry deadline is 26th January.Do check out the PRmoment Awards microsite.Also, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.2.30 mins From a communications perspective, how does Lewis define the differences between purpose, ESG and CSR?“ESG is investor relations communicating to markets about your credentials as a sustainable business, a business that cares about society.”“There is a movement away from CSR... Companies have become more sophisticated.”7 mins To what extent have brand purpose and ESG been negatively impacted by the anti-woke movement?10 mins What is the role of comms in purpose policy within a business?13 mins As a comms agency, is your role to help companies find their purpose or is the assumption that they already know that?15 mins Purpose Union has developed a scorecard model that helps companies decide whether they should speak out on specific issues. Lewis talks us through how that model works.17 mins How do companies balance the risk of not speaking out versus the risk of not speaking out?21 mins Has an organisation's purpose become more important for its employees than its customers? 24 mins Does the structured nature of the B2B buying process make purpose more important for some B2B brands than those targeting end consumers?26 mins Do most consumers really care about the purpose positioning of one company, compared to its competitors? Don’t consumers care more about the product, the price and the convenience of the distribution?29 mins What are the three questions Lewis asks organisations before they respond to purpose-related issues?34 mins The CEO is completely crucial to an organisation's purpose strategy, right? If they don’t get it, you're doomed, aren’t you?35 mins The purpose and environmental event caravan grows every year. What are the roles of events like Davos and COP? Do they help drive progress, or have they become a distraction?37 mins What is the role of the comms director in setting and driving an organisation's purpose strategy?

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast. On the show today, I’m chatting with one of my favourite people, the wonderful Bienosa Ebite. Bieneosa is head of communications and government affairs, inclusion & diversity at GSK.In this regular format of the PRmoment Podcast with Ben Smith, we’ll be catching up with UK public relations leaders - and our guests will share their, in hindsight, secrets that they wish they'd known when they started their careers!Bienosa Ebite joined GSK 18 months ago. Previously, she was at Centrica for eight years. She ran her own agency, Bright Star Public Relations, from 2007 to 2014, but Bienosa is best known as the chair and co-founder of Ignite, which was the original not-for-profit organisation established to promote the benefits of cultural diversity in public relations. Before we start, we’ve got some huge news - The PRmoment Awards 2014 are now - OPEN!There are some exciting changes this year; we’ve tweaked the categories, refined the entry form and with no additional entry fee, we’ve launched a regional champions scheme so we can reach the work right across the UK.Also, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.Here is a summary of what Bieneosa and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:2 mins Bieneosa tells us why, for the “first time in my life, work doesn’t feel like work.”“My purpose as a human being is aligned with what I’m doing professionally.”“How do we get more people from underrepresented groups into the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) sector careers.”5 mins Improving diversity is a wide remit: Bieneosa talks us through where she tries to make a difference in your current role.9 mins Does science and, more broadly, STEM have the same diversity issues as public relations?“One of the things that is missing is representation at the senior level in the public relations sector.”“When I started in PR, I didn’t feel like I belonged.”“People have left PR because they don’t feel welcome.”14 mins Bienosa and Ben reminisce about how and why Ignite was a trailblazer!“Having a community is great, but I’m all about campaigning to make change.”“What I found was that at that time, diversity and inclusion almost was like a fashion for PR…it was in vogue for a time, and then it would go quiet.”18 mins Here is the link to Ben Smith's interview with Taylor Bennett Foundation alumni  Kwaku Aning, Shanice Hoo Mills and Toni Adeola on a recent PRmoment Podcast.“If you want to see change, you have to agitate. Otherwise, nothing will happen.”“When it’s something that affects you…ten years is too long… You want change now.”“If you address things head-on, you stand a better chance of being able to solve issues. If you skirt around it and don’t want to say the word (racism) - nothing will ever change.”32 mins What would Bienosa do differently in her career if she had her time again?“Investing in a mentor or a coach is something I didn’t do early enough.”34 mins What is the difference between a mentor and a coach?39 mins Looking back at public relations’ DE&I journey - how does Bienosa think PR is doing?40 mins What KPIs does Bienosa look for when assessing a sector's progress on DE&I?

Welcome to our 2023 Creativity Review, where we talk about the best bits of PR creativity we saw last year.On the show today to help us review some of the best creative work are:Clare Morris, Clare Morris, associate director, PremierDon Ferguson, Don Ferguson, deputy MD, Hope & Glory PRLora Martyr, creative director, Taylor HerringTo remind the listeners of the rules - our creatives are not allowed to choose their own work! You can enjoy the video version of this episode here. This is part of our regular series of creativity reviews, so if you like what you hear, look back at the PRmoment Podcast archive on iTunes or Spotify to listen to more creative ideas.This special PRmoment Podcast about creativity is, naturally enough, bought to you in partnership with Creative Moment. You can subscribe to Creative Moment here.If you’re listening to this show and you’re inspired to shout about your creative credentials, why not enter our work into the PRmoment Awards? The PRmoment Awards 2024 are now - OPEN! The final entry deadline is on Friday, 26th January.There are some exciting changes this year; we’ve tweaked the categories, refined the entry form and launched a regional champions scheme with no additional entry fee.Do check out the PRmoment Awards microsite.Also, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.Finally, thanks to PRmoment’s data and insight partners, Meltwater, for supporting the show.Here are the campaigns that made it into this 2023 creativity review:2 mins January: 1072 Bad Apples4 mins February: IKEA and Shelter6 mins March: Dove TurnYourBack7 mins March: Adidas, Wiggle and Muslim Hikers9 mins April: Jacquemus Bags on Wheels in Paris13 mins April: People Like Us Auto Correct Billboards14 mins June Netflix and Black Mirror16 mins June: Barbie, Barbie and more Barbie21 mins July: Enchanté gender equality?24 mins July: Maybelline CGI stunt27 mins September: Alzheimer’s Research UK31 mins October: Norwich City FC’s video for World Mental Health Day34 mins October: Jaffa Cakes, Bonnie Tyler and the Total Eclipse38 mins November: Doritos’ ‘crunch cancellation’ for noisy gamers

It’s been a funny old PR year. Some firms have had a tough time. Some firms have sadly gone bust, but many, possibly the majority, have seen growth of 5-10%. And in a decent number of cases, they’ve grown more than that.So it’s a difficult year to try and sum up, but on the show today, I’m joined by W founder Warren Johnson, and we’re going to talk through the key themes and challenges that 2023 has brought to the PR agency market.Warren founded W Communications in 2009, and it now has global revenues of £25m and an employee headcount of 200 globally, with 120 in London at W, 40 at Lotus, 25 employees in Singapore and 15 in New York.W has grown at low double digit growth in 2023.Before we start, The PRmoment Awards 2024 are now - OPEN! The final entry deadline is on Friday, 26th January.There are some exciting changes this year; we’ve tweaked the categories, refined the entry form and launched a regional champions scheme with no additional entry fee to reach the work across the UK.Do check out the PRmoment Awards microsite.Also, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.Finally, thanks to PRmoment’s data and insight partners, Meltwater, for supporting this podcast.2 mins How has 2023 been for W Communications?“We’ve delivered our EBITA numbers, but it’s felt like a real slog this year.”“We had a super strong start to the year; the summer was very flat, and we’ve seen a strong recovery in Q4.”4 mins Ben Smith asks Warren: “Does W have lots of fantastic clients who don’t spend enough money?”“The dynamics of the industry have changed radically over the past couple of years and we’re now at this weird hybrid of low retainers with projects on top…When the economy starts spluttering, that model collapses a bit.”“Nothing got cancelled. It just got delayed!”“That's why we’re seeing bankruptcies; this is coming off the back of the biggest wage inflation we’ve seen in a couple of decades.”“There was a massive fight for talent last year. People overpaid for often mediocre talent… So you’ve got the highest wage bill you’ve looked at, just as the days of the guaranteed retainer become a thing of the past.”“A lot of PR people want to be liked… If your revenue is dropping, the only way to protect your margin is to reduce headcount. And most people don’t like to do that.”9.30 mins Why are clients reducing spend?10.30 mins Are clients willing to pay for the extra specialist advice that agencies are employing? 11 mins How is PR’s battle with other marketing services agencies going?“We’re (PR) is doing great. It feels like there are a lot more social briefs knocking around.”“If you can apply an earned media mindset and lens to influencer, to talent, through to live, through to advertising, you are going to provide solutions that can often be more cost-effective than what their (the client) is normally getting.”12 mins Has the gradual reduction of retainer accounts and the formation of a low retainer/project hybrid client relationship made the PR agency business model less profitable than it used to be? “We’re looking at a much more dynamic, agile resource-based (talent) system now for agencies.”14 mins How can PR firms rebuild their margin?“There is still the same amount of money in the market, you just need a sharper business model.”“The opportunity to go beyond PR is vast…we’re increasingly doing earned advertising campaigns. Clients are interested in a more earned mindset when it comes to above the line.”“The last two ye

Welcome to our 2023 Year in Review of PR Pitches and mergers & acquisitions in the UK PR scene with Andrew Bloch, where we will discuss the biggest, most seismic pitch wins and mergers and acquisitions that the PR sector has seen in 2023.Andrew is the lead consultant - PR, Social, Content and Influencer at the new business consultancy firm AAR and a partner at PCB Partners, where he advises on buying and selling marketing services agencies.Andrew was also a co-founder at PR agency Frank PR, where he is still a shareholder.Before we start, The PRmoment Awards 2024 are now - OPEN! The final entry deadline is on Friday, 26th January.There are some exciting changes this year; we’ve tweaked the categories, refined the entry form and launched a regional champions scheme with no additional entry fee to reach the work across the UK.Do check out the PRmoment Awards microsite.Also, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.Finally, thanks to PRmoment’s data and insight partners, Meltwater, for supporting the show.2 mins Andrew talks about December’s M&A activity: PHA acquired Leeds-based creative comms consultancy MCG.Premier acquired Edinburgh-based The Corner Shop PR. It will be renamed Premier Scotland.Brands2Life was acquired by the Scandinavian holding company Paritee. Brands2Life has a fee income of £21 million and circa 180 full-time employees.“It’s not easy for an agency to remain at the top of their game for so many years, and that is what Brands2Life has done.”6.30 mins December pitch wins: 8 mins Our Review of Pitch PR Wins and M&A Review for 2023January 2023 Pitch Highlights10 mins January’s PR M&A Highlights“One of the biggest M&A deals in the sector. ““Teneo will give Tulchan an international footprint.” “I don’t think this will be the last acquisition we see from Teneo.” 12.30 mins February 2023 Pitch wins highlights“They become part of a roster that included Cow and Edelman...the first in a stellar year for The Romans.”“Kuoni is a big big win.”13.30 mins February’s PR M&A highlights“A landmark deal for Markettiers”15 mins March’s pitch wins highlights“A very significant win for MSL, who have one of the strongest social media units within the PR space.”17 mins March’s 2023 M&A Highlights20 mins April’s pitch wins highlights:“Supermarket comms is about as tough as it gets.”23 mins April’s 2023 M&A Highlights“Goat is a very data-driven influencer influencer agency.”“This will give Camarco global reach and deep expertise in corp advisory.”25 mins May’s pitch win highlights:27 mins May’s M&A Highlights28 mins June’s pitch win highlights29 mins June’s M&A Highlights31 mins July’s pitch win highlights33 mins July’s M&A Highlights:.34 mins August’s PR Pitch Wins35 mins August’s M&A Highlights36 mins September’s PR Pitch Wins37.30 mins September’s PR M&A Highlights40 mins October and November’s PR Pitch Win Highlights41.30 mins October and November’s PR M&A Highlights

Welcome to our Recruitment Year in Review on the PRmoment Podcast, where we look at the PR job market with Dean Connolly, founder & PR recruitment director at Latte.We look back at the talent trends in PR for 2023. The year has seen a huge change in the PR recruitment market. Back in January, we were in the midst of a significant talent war in the sector, which saw a raft of above-inflation pay rises - but the cost of living crisis and a tougher trading environment saw the dynamics of the PR talent market turn in its head in Q2 and Q3 - before a picking up again in Q4.If you’re interested in keeping an eye on the best jobs that are out there each week, do make sure you subscribe for free to PRmoment’s Top 10 PR Jobs updates each week.A reminder that the PRmoment Awards early bird deadline for the PRmoment Awards is Friday, 15th December and the Final deadline is Friday, 26th JanuaryFinally, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Dean and PRmoment founder Bes Smith discussed:2 mins Dean talks about how 2023 was a year of 2 halves from a talent recruitment perspective.“It’s become easier for agencies to attract talent.”“For tech agencies, some have made redundancies, but we see some small and mid-size players still growing at a rapid rate.”8 mins The second half of the year has seen a number of ups and downs in hiring and then agencies being more cautious.“There is positive sentiment heading into 2024.”10 mins Ben and Dean reflect on the reality that 2023 saw far fewer redundancies in PR than many had feared.“People that got made redundant got snapped up quickly.”“Once you’ve done three years in a sector - you’re seen as a specialist. Event at account exec.”“We’ve seen consumers really quieten down this year. We’ve pivoted as a business and taken on more corporate and tech roles.”“If you're hiring it’s a better market at the moment.”14 mins Dean updates us on some of the biggest PR moves in the last month or so. Including: Ali Kramer joining Fight of Flight, Elle Bellwood joining The Academy and Leila Ager being promoted to managing director, Corporate and Public Affairs at BCW in London (an internal move.)“We’re seeing a lot of mid-sized agencies hiring creative teams.”18 mins  Deans top 3 PR talent predictions for 2024:“2024 will see the PR talent market continue to loosen.”“The debate around hybrid working in PR will die.”“Agencies that invest in their employer brand will win the fight for talent.”“An employer brand makes it ten times easier to recruit talent.”21 mins Agencies need to tighten up their recruitment processes: “A 3 stage interview process maximum.”“If you (the employer) can wrap up the interview process within three weeks, you will have a shot at securing the best talent.”24 mins What is the average length of the recruitment process in PR?

On the PRmoment Podcast, this week is Adam Clyne, founder of Coolr, and we’re going to talk about what social agencies do and how that compares to what PR firms do.Clearly, PR firms say they do social. But to what extent do they do social compared to the broader, or perhaps deeper, social remit of social agencies? And is this a problem for PR agencies? Do they need to worry about that? Or are they better off out of a very competitive social agency market?To introduce our guest, Adam Clyne. He started in PR, and then he made the move into advertising with JWT. Adam launched his own digital agency called The Lab in 2002, which he then sold to the agency that is now called Kindred. He also had spells at TVC and Weber Shandwick.He launched his own social media agency, Coolr, in 2017.When I last interviewed Adam in 2020, Coolr had  20 employees. Now, in Nov 2023, it has 90. Adam won’t tell me his fee income, but there’s clearly a lot of growth in those in 3 years, especially considering Coolr doesn't buy much paid media, the reasons for which we’ll talk about later in the show. Coolr clients include Burger King and Deliveroo.Thanks to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Also, a heads up to our PRmoment Podcast data partners - Meltwater.2.30 mins Where does PR fit into the world of social media marketing, and where does social media marketing fit into the world of PR? “Social and PR are kindred spirits, but there are a lot of differences and nuances between them.”“Sometimes something that starts in the world of PR and media can explode into the world of social.”“We never take on a PR brief. We prefer to be absolute specialists within social…there are nuances and differences in the ways of thinking and the ways of working.”5 mins Are there areas that PR firms tend to play and areas where social media agencies own?“When it comes to our competitor set, it’s very rare for us to compete against PR agencies.”“The infrastructure is fundamentally different between how a PR agency is structured and how a PR firm is structured….and I’ve been in both.”6.30 mins Who owns social client side - comms, brand or marketing?8 mins What is the difference between social-earned media and PR-earned media? In terms of the type of campaign and the type of creative?“Where the worlds are a little bit closer are the hero campaigns… those moments in time…The work we do is always on, a publishing approach.”10.30 mins How do brands set themselves up as publishers on social?12 mins What types of skill sets does a social agency need to create and activate content?“Very few people here are from a PR agency background…We have people from publishers,...we have people from a TV background..from a social first background.”15 mins How do the social channels break down in terms of the demographics of their audience?  “TikTok is getting older, and Facebook is still very powerful and potent…but it’s more about the content that works with the audience...It’s a platform-first approach.”“We want to play in culture.”“Are there things in the draw ready for certain situations? 100% But you can’t plan for every situation. You have to have the agility to be ready, the process with the client to be able to approach stuff while it's a cultural moment, but more importantly, you have to have the trust from a brand.”28 mins To what extent can AI automate customer service on social?“You’ve got to be careful about automation of responses. Particularly on community mana

In a new regular format of the PRmoment Podcast with me, Ben Smith, we’ll be catching up with UK public relations leaders - and our guests will share their in-hindsight secrets that they wish they'd known when they started their businesses! Today, we're chatting with Kirsty Leighton, founder & group CEO of Milk & Honey PR.Milk & Honey was launched in 2016 and is a £5 m fee-income PR firm with offices in London, New York, Singapore and Munich.Before we start, we’ve got some huuuuge news - The PRmoment Awards 2014 are now - OPEN!There are some exciting changes this year; we’ve tweaked the categories, refined the entry form and launched a regional champions scheme with no additional entry fee to reach the work across the UK.Also, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.Finally, thanks to PRmoment’s data and insight partners, Meltwater, for supporting this podcast.Here is a summary of what Kirsty and Ben talk about:3 mins Kirsty tells us why she launched Milk & Honey internationally quite early in its story.“I didn’t want any office to be more than 40 people because, to my mind, culture starts to change after that.”Here is a timeline of Milk & Honey's international growth:London 2017Sydney 2019New York 2021, led by Paul CohenMunich 2022, led by Manuel HuttlSingapore 2023, led by Meilin Wong“You need people who understand the local market.”“America is a huge market for us, so it makes sense to open on the West Coast, potentially in Canada as well.”“All our expansion has been on the back of finding the right people…none of it has been on the back of client demand.”14 mins Kirsty talks us through her lessons on how to grow your PR business internationally:Consider what amount of equity it makes sense to share with the leader in the respective market, but "you need to give the leader of the business skin in the game."Test the leader’s alignment with your values.It needs to be someone who understands the local market and is known in the marketYour offer must stand out.Launch in countries where there is a PR talent pool.Launch in countries that have a regional and national impact.18 mins Kirsty talks about the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Course she completed and how it influenced Milk & Honey’s strategy. The course is Goldman’s CSR program to help accelerate small businesses to become scale-ups and braver.21 mins Three of Kirsty’s jobs pre-Milk & Honey were Wagener Edstrom (now WE), Hudson Sadler and Edelman. I asked Kirsty whether, if you combined a bit of each of those three firms, you would get a business that resembles Milk & Honey?29 mins Why did Milk & Honey decide to become a B Corp? (Here is a previous PR Moment Podcast that discusses how a PR firm should go about becoming a B Corp accreditation.)33 mins Has the Havas/ Shell controversy been worse for the Havas brand or the B Corp brand?36 mins Looking back over the last seven years since Kirsty launched Milk & Honey, does she have any regrets? 39 mins Kirsty talks us through why the Employee Owned Trust structure was right for Milk & Honey. How does the EOT structure work with international entities?44 mins What lessons does Kirsty have for any budding PR start-up entrepreneurs?

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Welcome to our November review of PR Pitches and mergers & acquisitions in the UK PR scene with Andrew Bloch.He is the lead consultant - PR, Social, Content and Influencer at the new business consultancy firm AAR and a partner at PCB Partners, where he advises on buying and selling marketing services agencies.Andrew was also a co-founder at PR agency Frank PR, where he is still a non-executive director at Frank PR.Before we start, we’ve got some huuuuge news - The PRmoment Awards 2024 are now - OPEN!There are some exciting changes this year; we’ve tweaked the categories, refined the entry form and launched a regional champions scheme with no additional entry fee to reach the work across the UK.Do check out the PRmoment Awards microsite.Also, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.Finally, thanks to PRmoment’s data and insight partners, Meltwater, for supporting this podcast.2 mins Andrew on how this year's pitch golden quarter is going!Andrew’s current outlook for public relations:“Things won’t really pick up pace until the second quarter next year.”“Great companies do well regardless of the economy, and it’s the ones that aren’t as well run, that aren’t as strong, that suffer when the economy wobbles.”“I think we will see an uplift overall in (PR) industry in spending this year.”“Because we’re always on…we are more protective of when we do get some shut off time.”6 mins  How does Andrew look back on the pitching year of 2023?“Not a boom year…but healthy.”“Tech’s had a tough year, but coming out of it now…you’re already seeing that come back. Which is great.”9 mins Andrew and Ben reflect on the sad news that Science Magic, previously The London Communications Store, has gone into voluntary receivership.“This was a sizable firm of over 100 people.”“You can look at lots of agencies and quite clearly see they are overstaffed for the level of fee income they’ve got.“Now you have a lot of specialists within an agency…who aren’t necessarily direct revenue drivers.”“PR firms have a higher cost base now than they ever have.”11 mins This month's PR new business news:Tin Man wins Mars Pet Care (Royal Canin) and Yeo Valley.Sunny Side Up wins Majestic WineJohn Doe wins the Pernod Ricard wine portfolio and Sports Direct.Duet wins Inshur (check spelling)Frank wins Lounge.tv and Not On The High StreetRed wins Toshiba TVThree Sixty wins Wizz AirThe Romans wins The Gym Group, Formula E and Tony's ChocolonelyHatch wins 365H&K wins Philips Domestic AppliancesPHA wins Alith PayLittle Red Rooster wins Hush Puppies26 mins November’s PR M&A News:Life Sciences firm Eversana have acquired digital health consultancy Healthware GroupFreuds buys creative art agency Lawless StudiosUS private equity firm EagleTree Capital buys MMGY GlobalHavas buys Indian consumer firm PR Pundit.Splendid buys DIY Creative.

On the show today, we welcome Charlotte Brooks, who is the managing director of PR agency Mischief. This is the latest In our ongoing in hindsight-themed PRmoment Podcasts, where PRmoment founder Ben Smith interviews public relations leaders - where our guests share their in hindsight, secrets that they wish they'd known when they started their careers.Charlotte’s been at Mischief for five years and took over the managing director role from Greg Jones when he left last year.Before joining Mischief in 2018, Charlotte had worked for some of London’s finest consumer PR firms, including House PR, The Academy and Launch PR.Mischief is a consumer PR agency based in London with 35 employees and a turnover of £5 m. Current clients include the likes of Lego, Three and Ocada. Big wins for Mischief this year (2023) were Team GB, Diageo and Channel 4.Mischief is part of the MHP group. MHP and Mischief became part of Next Fifteen when it acquired Engine in a £77m deal. Before we start, if you haven’t already, look at our new event PR Masterclass: The Agency Growth Forum. At this one event, 22 experts will give 11 Masterclasses on essential elements of managing a modern, profitable and successful PR firm. Also, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.Finally, thanks to PRmoment’s data and insight partners, Meltwater, for supporting this podcast.Here is a summary of what Charlotte and Ben discussed on the show:3 mins Charlotte reflects on the state of the consumer PR market at the moment.“This year’s been a tough year…there’s greater scrutineering from procurement than I’ve ever seen before.”“The majority (of Mischief’s) work is retained work…retainers give you some security.”5 mins For any PR agency brand connoisseurs out there, of which I imagine there are none -  is Mischief now Mischief again, or is it Mischief MHP?8 mins Why does Charlotte think it’s good to move jobs regularly?“Life’s too short to be unhappy in a job.”“You can learn so much by moving (jobs)...it’s been interesting for me to take the learnings from those agencies.”11 mins How do you know when it's time to change jobs?Charlotte talks us through the lessons she learnt from her jobs over the years:Jonny Pitt and Launch PR:“Working at Launch is like being at the school of Jonny Pitt.”“Plan what you’re going to say to a client in the lift…don’t talk about the weather; have something interesting to say…be memorable.”Ginny Paton and House PR:“Ginny has been a huge mentor for me throughout my career…she is the reason I am where I am today.”“Some of my best friends now are people I met at House PR.”16 mins What does a good culture in a PR firm look like?“PR firm culture pre covid is very different to the culture now.”Mitch Kaye and Dan Glover at The Academy:“Their individual strengths are the other one's weakness…they taught me to understand what you're good at.”Frankie Cory and Greg Jones Mischief:Frankie was very much work hard, play hard  - she  taught me that you’re never too senior to get your hands dirty!”“Creativity ran through everything we did when Greg was in charge at Mischief.”Alex Bigg at MHP Group:“Alex is a brilliant businessman.”25 mins A discussion about how Mischief has retained its position as a leading consumer PR firm despite 4/5 leadership changes at the firm since it launc

This week, we’re celebrating 15 years of the Taylor Bennett Foundation, and to do that, we’re talking to 3 of its alumni about how the programme helped their careers. On the PRmoment Podcast today, we’re talking to Kwaku Aning,  Shanice Hoo Mills and Toni AdeolaFor those of you not aware of the Taylor Bennett Foundation - well, I’d suggest you should! It’s an amazing charity that exists to encourage black, Asian and minority ethnic graduates to pursue a career in communications. It does this through its PR training programme, internships and mentoring programmes.Established by communications executive search firm Taylor Bennett in partnership with the University of East London and founding agency Brunswick in 2008, the Foundation seeks to address the need for greater diversity in the public relations sector. With the support of leading communication companies, The Taylor Bennett Foundation runs professional development programmes that provide participants with the knowledge, skill set and network required to pursue a successful career in communications.And what better way to celebrate the 15th birthday of the foundation than to chat with three recent alumni about the programme and how it has benefited their careers?Kwaku Aning is currently senior director at FTI Consulting and completed the Taylor Bennett Foundation programme in 2016.  Shanice Hoo Mills is the founder of PR firm Kallure, which she launched in 2019. MHP sponsored Shanice and Kwaku’s Taylor Foundation intake. Toni Adeola is the global corporate affairs manager at Charlotte Tilbury Beauty. Previously, she worked at Brunswick for five years. Toni completed the Taylor Bennett program in 2017. Brunswick was the sponsor of Toni’s intake of the programme. Before we start, if you haven’t already, look at our new event PR Masterclass: The Agency Growth Forum. At this one event, 22 experts will give 11 Masterclasses on essential elements of managing a modern, profitable and successful PR firm. Also, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.Finally, thanks to PRmoment’s data and insight partners, Meltwater, for supporting this podcast.Here’s a summary of what Kwaku, Toni and Shanice talked about on the show:3 mins For any of our listeners who are not aware of the Taylor Bennett Foundation, Kwaku Aning talks us through what the charity does.4.30 mins Toni Adeola tells us what she was doing in life before she went onto the Taylor Bennett programme.6 mins Toni tells about the type of course content and what she found most useful.9 mins Shanice Shields-Mills talks us through how the Taylor Bennet Foundation helped her.14 mins Shanice talks about how long the programme lasts and what content she found most useful.18 mins Kwaku talks about why interns being paid to go on the Taylor Bennett Foundation is such a game-changer.“It feels good to be part of something that was ahead of its time. That’s positive.”20 mins Kwaku outlines how PR employers out there can get involved with the scheme and potentially sponsor an intake,“They need to have an honest conversation with themselves first. Are they doing this for the right reasons…or are they doing it as an exercise to make themselves feel better.”“The comms industry still has a massive retention issue.”“It’s diversity, inclusion but also having equity. ..the equity part of that is important.”27 mins Kwaku talks about what he learned on the programme that helped him the most in his career.“Once the programme was finished, I felt so confident in myself.”

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.This week, we’re chatting to Alex Aiken, long-time executive director of the UK Government’s Communication Service.Alex has worked with six Prime Ministers when they've had to make their most crucial decisions.  He worked in government communications during Brexit, during the COVID crisis, when the queen died and when Russia invaded Ukraine.In short, he’s been in the room during many of the most difficult periods of the UK government since the Second World War.He was appointed in December 2012 and has overseen a huge change in UK Government Communications. Currently, part of Alex’s role is to counter the disinformation spread by foreign governments about the UK and its allies.Whatever your politics, it's acknowledged globally that UK Government Communications is a global leader in ensuring the effectiveness of its communications to the UK public.Before we start, if you haven’t already, look at our new event PR Masterclass: The Agency Growth Forum. At this one event, 22 experts will give 11 Masterclasses on essential elements of managing a modern, profitable and successful PR firm. Finally, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.Here are some of the highlights of what Alex and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:2 mins What does a good disinformation campaign currently look like?3 mins How digital and social media have added extraordinary scale to Russia’s disinformation campaigns.4 mins Is there much evidence that people are becoming more circumspect to Russia’s disinformation campaigns?4.30 mins Alex talks us through the principles of countering disinformation: strong and independent media, educated citizens and good public information.“AI, bots and digital media mean we’ve got disinformation campaigns on steroids- it’s easier, cheaper and quicker to do now than it’s ever been.”9 mins “(For the European Union, The UK, The US and the G7), it’s only by working together to identify disinformation, by attributing it…and by working on the stories we want to tell that we will be able to combat it.”“To some extent, the UK can withstand disinformation, but smaller countries (those with newer democracies and a less independent media) are more at risk.”10 mins Alex shares his concerns about the attack of disinformation on democracies. He refers to the book Munitions of the Mind: A History of Propaganda from the Ancient World to the Present Era by author Philip M. Taylor, which suggests that the sophisticated digital propaganda of today poses a serious threat to democracy.“For centuries, information has been a powerful component of military doctrine.”“Information is a very powerful tool. Sometimes the public relations profession underestimates the power and value of its own currency of information…of truth told well.”12 mins Does Alex agree with this quote from the Freedom House Report on “Beijing's Global Media Influence 2022:“The Chinese government, under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, is accelerating a massive campaign to influence media outlets and news consumers around the world.”15 mins How much of Alex’s current role is to try and coordinate Western government’s response to Chinese, Russian and North

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.This is a bonus podcast where we chat about Rajar’s latest results. For those of you who aren’t aware of Rajar - it was established in 1992 and operates the single audience measurement system for the radio industry in the United Kingdom.Each quarter, it publishes the listenership figures for UK radio. This offers a really interesting insight for PR people on how the UK public engages with this important channel.Today, we have Alex Blakemore, newsroom producer at Markettiers, to talk us through the latest Rajar results for Q3 2023.Thanks to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Also, a heads up to our PRmoment Podcast data partners - Meltwater. Do check out the program for PRmoment’s new conference launch, The PR Masterclass: The Agency Growth Forum.Highlights include:Radio's weekly reach is 49.5 million adults, that’s 88% of the population listening to the radio for 20.5 Hours per week.The total BBC share of radio listening is 43%. So, in terms of the BBC vs commercial radio race, we have the BBC on 31.7m and commercial radio on 39.3m (reach).Alex discusses the changes in scheduling at BBC local radio and what they mean for PR folks.The impact of the Ken Bruce effect on Greatest Hits Radio numbers and whether BBC Radio 2’s reach has declined due to Ken Bruce leaving.A discussion of how Greatest Hits radio strategy of national programming with local bulletins and the implications of that for PRs.

The PR Network is a £5m fee-income global tech PR agency based in the UK. It has ten employees, no head office and 1300 associates all around the world who it can call upon. On average, it has 70-90 associates working for it at any one time.Before we start, we’ve just launched our latest webinars. One is our annual The Creative Year in Review 2023, and the other is PR Analytics 2023. Do check out the PRmoment homepage for all the details.Finally, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA. Here is a summary of what Eileen and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed.2 mins How many global PR campaigns are there these days?2.30 mins Should most global PR firms be more accurately regarded as multi-territory?“There are 195 total markets in the world; in terms of markets you could go to (with a PR campaign), maybe 130-140.”“For us, when you're looking at the global/multi-territory piece, it comes down to the client set-up.”“If a client is working in 40 markets, 40 markets for them is global.”“The PR Network has a presence in 60 markets.”7 mins What is the model for an international PR campaign now? Is the wheel and spoke model still dominant?“Where we’ve seen the best campaigns come together is where you work with a consultative approach with the local agency teams.”9 mins Is there a paradox between retaining control of an international campaign and giving people room to adapt a campaign for local markets? Isn't that a tension that will exist forever?10 mins How many markets do the big global PR firms tend to have owned offices in? “The world's biggest PR firm has 29 wholly owned offices, and to cover the other markets, it works with 26 affiliates.”14 mins Is there an alternative to the wheel and spoke model?16 mins Eileen talks about the PR Network model and how they manage any client conflicts with their associates.17 mins There are four ways of tacking an international PR campaign: 1) Doing the whole thing in-house, 2) Going through a global PR firm, 3) Using an international network of independent agencies, or 4) Hiring a virtual independent consultant firm like PR Network?Eillen discusses which of these approaches is the most popular.20 mins 70% of The PR Network’s work is international, making it a very different type of independent PR firm.“The international piece for us is an opportunity to scale and grow.”21 mins Are there regional trends in the types of content that work across different international PR and media markets?

On the PRmoment Podcast today, Pangolin PR co-founders David Phillips and Will Cookson reflect on ten years of running their agency.Pangolin is a consumer PR shop in London with a fee incline of £1.75m. Clients include Pernod and Pepsi, and it employs 17 people.On the show today, we will reflect on their regrets, lessons and achievements as they look back on ten years of owning their own business.To deal with the elephant in the room straight away - some listeners out there might be pointing out that many firms have exceeded £1.76 m over ten years, but in a way, that’s the whole point. Ultimately this is a story of success but only with a few wrong turns along the way, which makes it an interesting story.Before we start, if you haven’t already, look at our new event PR Masterclass: The Agency Growth Forum. At this one event, 22 experts will give 11 Masterclasses on essential elements of managing a modern, profitable and successful PR firm. Finally, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.Here’s a summary of what David, Will and Ben discussed on the show:2 mins David and Will talk about their “real naivety about setting up a business” when they started their firm.“I genuinely think we were the most naive co-founders back in the day…we were senior account directors when we set up the business.”4 mins Do you wish you’d given it a few more years in a big agency before starting on your own? “We’ve learnt everything on the job..it’s meant it’s been slower.”“We’re not natural risk takers.”“We were both in our late 20s and didn't have massive commitments…if someone were to ask me to set up a business now, it would be a very different story.”9 mins  Freuds has a mythical status amongst some consumer PR folks - is that a vital cog in your story?10 mins When Pagolin launched, it was called Caffeine. Will talks us through why they had to change the name?“There’s a wider lesson there about what to do when it goes legal.”15 mins Will and David tell us how they bought a ticket to win the Pepsi account.“Dave slightly overcooked it on the cocktails the night before.”“It just shows that you have to take a risk at some point, and it might work out.”19 mins David talks us through why they nearly decided to say no to the Pernod Ricard account in their first year of business.“We had a look at the current clients on our roster, which included a birdseed brand and a few others, and thought let's do it and see where it takes us!... It’s led to a 10-year relationship with Pernod Ricard.”24.30 mins 70% of Pangolin’s work is project-based. David and Will talk us through why that is.28 mins 50% of Pangolin’s work is UK-based, and 50% is global. Why is that? It’s quite rare for a consumer PR shop of its size.30 mins What do global consumer PR campaigns look like at the moment? Are they a media brief or a social media brief?“Brands want a percentage share of conversation online.”“We’ve had the best year to date; revenue has grown by 25%.”“New business feels a bit slower, a bit stickier.”34 mins How big do David and Will want Pangolin to get?37 mins Do David and Will believe they have benefited from founding Pangolin together, or do they wish they’d been solo founders?“Dave and I talk about things A LOT!.... Sometimes we need to stop talking about stuff and just do it.”“When we were at Freuds, Will

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Welcome to our October review of PR Pitches and mergers & acquisitions in the UK PR scene with Andrew Bloch.He is the lead consultant - PR, Social, Content and Influencer at the new business consultancy firm AAR and a partner at PCB Partners, where he advises on buying and selling marketing services agencies.Andrew was also a co-founder at PR agency Frank PR, where he is still a non-executive director at Frank PR.Thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.A reminder about our new event PR Masterclass: The Agency Growth Forum.At this one event, 22 experts will give 11 Masterclasses on essential elements of managing a modern, profitable and successful PR firm. Here’s a summary of what Andrew and PRmoment founder discuss as PR enters its golden quarter!2 mins This month's PR agency pitch wins news:The Romans win DeliverooPHA win England GolfStripe win White & MackayMade by Giants win YouLendTaylor Herring win Sky Mobile and Sky BroadbandMission agencies Speed and Krow win the Post OfficeTigerbond win JustgivingPitch win EA Sports FCThird City win NespressoFour win The National Lottery Heritage FundFirstlight win Chivas BrothersCircle PR win Fairmont HotelsM&C Saatchi win Elizabeth Arden 12.30 mins Andrew reflects on the current state of the PR new business market as we enter the busy Christmas period“The markets in a decent place…there’s hesitancy, but great agencies always do well despite the economy.”“The tech sector needs to realign and readjust, but it’s not going anywhere - it will come back strong.”15 mins Andrew talks about this month's M&A activity“There a lot going on this month - both trade (deals) and private equity.”Havas acquires Australian Public Affairs (APA)Omnicom acquires Plus Comms and FP1 - US-based corporate PR and lobbying firms.“This is all about the run into the US presidential election.”Milltown acquire the tech policy consultancy TasoSEC Newgate aquire Wepublic, a corporate agency in the Netherlands.Tyto acquires Its a Rep, a Dutch comms agency.Farner acquires Lansons.“Farner now has about 17 agencies across Europe. Farner’s fee income is about $86m globally.”“They’ve (Farner) have almost doubled in size in the last couple of years.”“Farner is backed by Waterland Private Equity, the same private equity firm that backed the Markettiers deal.”“The valuation of a business comes down to scale and specialist.”The way that Waterland works is that they don’t like to get into bids…they want a partner. They invest time in a non-competitive process.”“It (Lansons) was an EOT, which sometimes makes it (a sale) a complex process.”“Gordon Tempest Hay (ex Teneo/Blue Rubicon) joined Lansons 18 months/2 years ago, and...he's found them a buyer.”“It’s interesting that Cirkle and Lansons both sold relatively soon after becoming an Employee Owned Trust (EOT).”28 min Morrow Sodali, the US-based firm, acquires Powerscourt“I think this deal is worth in excess of £50m.”

Welcome to PRmoment Podcast. This week it’s our October Global Creativity Review, so we are talking creativity with a gorgeous panel who will identify and chat about some of the best bits of creativity they have seen in the past month or so. On the show today to help us review some of the best creative work are: Daniel Glover, co-founder & creative director of The AcademyOlivia Mushigo, social creative, CoolrJames Gordon-MacIntosh, co-founder and chief creative officer, Hope&Glory PR To remind the listeners of the rules - our creatives are not allowed to choose their own work! This is our 4th global creativity review, so if you like what you hear, look back at the PRmoment Podcast archive on iTunes or Spotify to listen to more creative ideas. This special PRmoment Podcast about creativity is, naturally enough, bought to you in partnership with Creative Moment. You can subscribe to Creative Moment here. Here are a few highlights of what Dan, Olivia and James chatted about with PRmoment founder Ben Smith. 2 mins Olivia talks us through some creativity-inducing viral moments/trends where brands have tapped into the news agenda. 9 mins Tube Girl and MAC at London Fashion Week.“My money’s on Tube Girl having a slightly shorter shelf life.”“One of the things to admire is the amazing speed at which beauty brands will spot a trend and then move on.”10 mins Donald Trump’s prison mug shot on some anti-woke right-wing beer which then sells out!“Make the money, honey.”13 mins Dan Glover talks us through three campaigns that caught his eye this month, all featuring challenger brands using creativity to position themselves as market leaders.“Simple ideas executed well.”Pukka Pies at London Fashion Week - the pie of football: includes a kit range and the Pukka Athletic Club.“I tip my hat to 6EZ Group.”“I’m going to use this platform to appeal for a gluten-free pie.”“It’s nice to see Pukka Pies embrace its role in society.”17 mins Alzheimer Research UK Change the Ending rebrand by Above+Beyond ad agency.“The creative is without doubt beautiful.”“We’re a charity that doesn’t have a happy ending.”21 mins Lick Paint’s and Heinz collab by Hope&Glory“Heinz approached Lick in this instance.”26 mins “There’s always one brand a year that nails it, and Heinz is having its moment.”28 mins Heinz’s Ketchup and Seemingly Ranch Sauce and Taylor Swift’s tweet goes bonkers across earned media! “I’m not a big fan of the fake mock-up…if you keep doing it, I will stop paying attention because I know it’s not real.”32 mins KFC’s bespoke chicken bone jewellery 36 mins Avavav’s chaotic Milan Catwalk Video 36 mins Carrefour puts 'shrinkflation’ labels on its shelves during the cost of living crisis. 37 mins Ed Sheeran gatecrashes a wedding in Vegas“Ed Sheeran is a one-man PR stunt machine.”

Welcome to a new PRmoment Podcast where we look at the PR job market with Dean Connolly, founder & PR recruitment director at Latte.We talk about all things PR recruitment - discussing some of the trends in the PR job market, including the latest numbers from Latte’s 2023 PR salary guide.If you’re interested in keeping an eye on the best PR jobs out there each week, subscribe for free to PRmoment’s Top 10 PR Jobs updates.Before we start, if you haven’t already, do take a look at our new event PR Masterclass: The Agency Growth Forum.At this one event, 22 experts will give 11 Masterclasses on essential elements of managing a modern, profitable and successful PR firm. Finally, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Dean and PRmoment founder Bes Smith discussed:2 mins Dean updates us on trends in the PR recruitment market in the UK“We’re seeing a slowdown on the consumer side; jobs aren’t flowing as quickly in the consumer market.”“Corporate has picked up in September.”“Just because there’s a slowdown in the jobs market doesn’t mean an abundance of talent is available.”5 mins  What has the impact of the tech slowdown been on the PR recruitment market?“We find if someone’s been made redundant, they’ll have a job within 5 days - if they want it” (At the junior level)“Employer brand for agencies is crucial for attracting talent.”11 mins  Dean says the talent gap has reduced (the number of vacancies agencies have that they cannot fill), - but it’s still a growth limiting factor for agencies.12.30 mins “We have seen salaries level out and plateau...I don’t think we’ll see salaries move again for another 6-12 months.”“I think salary increases in PR will be a bit below inflation.”14 mins Dean’s recruitment heat map:Healthcare Red Hot 10/10Corporate 9/10Tech 5/10Consumer 6/1017.30 mins Dean gives us his PR salary band update (London-based roles)PR account executive £26-28 KPR senior account executive £28-33KPR account manager £35-40 KPR senior account manager £42 -£45KPR account director £50-55KPR senior account director £60-65 KPR associate director £70-80KPR director £85-£130K23 mins  “Linkedin’s research says that mentioning a salary in a job advert is the key feature to get someone to apply for a job.”24.30 mins An update on working from home/in the office trend.“We’re seeing some agencies go back to 4/5 days a week in the office.”“Whether you want to come into the office just depends on the commute.”“We’re seeing the rise in the destination PR office.”

On the PRmoment Podcast today we’re chatting with Katie De Cozar, director of CCgroup about how to improve the DE&I of PR agencies.CCgroup has made major changes to its business over the past 5 years which has seen significant improvements in the diversity of its employees. CCgroup is a £6m revenue PR firm based in London with 46 employees. In 2020 17% of CCgroups employees were BME, in 2023 that has increased to 37%.Some background stats for our listeners:According to the CIPR State of the Profession Report 2022 89% of the PR sector is white, 11% black, Asian, mixed or other ethnic groups. (All UK-wide)Government data from the UK Census 2021: 82% of people in England and Wales are white, and 18% belong to a black, Asian, mixed or other ethnic groupSo we as a sector need to do better when it comes to encouraging a greater representation of people to work in public relations.Before we start, if you haven’t already do take a look at our new event PR Masterclass: The Agency Growth Forum. Katie will be joining a panel at the event on “Building partnerships to help shift the diversity of communication campaigns and the teams that create them.”At this one event, 22 experts will give 11 Masterclasses on essential elements of managing a modern, profitable and successful PR firm. Finally, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.4.30 mins “We know that diverse teams outperform non-diverse teams.”5 mins Where do PR leaders need to start their journey towards increasing the representation of minority groups within their PR teams?5.30 mins “Representation in London of BME is around 46%.”7 mins Katie talks about what data do you need to know when it comes to your company's diversity. “Our gender pay gap has improved significantly, we’ve got work to do on our ethnicity pay gap.”12 mins Katie talks about the need to communicate your diversity data in a transparent and fair way, both internally and externally.13 mins Here is the link to the WIPR podcast with Jo Carr Ben mentioned in the show.14 mins The other areas that are critically important to making progress on diversity are recruitment, bonuses & benefits and staff surveys. Katie talks us through why they are such important areas and gives an insight into the changes that CCgroup made.“Importantly we got rid of the words ‘cultural fit!’”“We have full transparency within pay bands within the business. One thing agencies must do is include pay bands within the job description… There’s a real danger to hiding that information.”20 mins Katie talks about how CCgroup changed its recruitment processes to improve the diversity of candidates.23 mins Katie describes how CCgroup has democratised its approach to rewarding staff bonuses - to make it a fairer and more transparent process.26 mins Katie talks about the role of staff surveys in helping understand how its staff are feeling.28 mins How CCgroup’s 360 appraisal process works.31 mins Is CCgroup producing a different type of work than before it had a diverse team?33 mins How has the culture of CCgroup improved?35 mins Have clients noticed CCgroup's improvement in its approach to diversity?37 mins

On the PRmoment Podcast this week we’re chatting with Andy Peake, London CEO of creative agency VCCP. I’ve known Andy for about 25 years so, to an extent, we’ve followed each other's careers with interest over a couple of decades!As Andy is now CEO of one the largest creative agencies in London I thought it would be interesting to get him on the show to chat about the intersection of PR firms and advertising agencies. VCCP London has 850 employees and according to Nielson Billings Rankings is the UK’s highest billing creative agency with £483 m in billings, in 2022. Up 34% from £360m in 2021.The agency was founded in 2002 and is owned by Chime, which also owns the PR agencies Good Relations and Harvard.Chime is majority-owned by private equity firm Providence Equity Partners.The intersection between PR firms and advertising firms has become an interesting one - because if you listen to a PR firm describe itself and an advertising firm describe itself, you’d think they have become basically the same or very similar. But they seem to rarely compete for briefs and clients' budgets - and we’ll be discussing that and no doubt much more on today’s PRmoment Podcast today.Before we start, if you haven’t already do take a look at our new event PR Masterclass: The Agency Growth Forum.At this one event, 22 experts will give 11 Masterclasses on essential elements of managing a modern, profitable and successful PR firm. Also, a reminder that the final entry deadline for the ESG Awards is 29th September 2023.Finally, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors of the PRCA.Here is a summary of what Andy and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed on the show:2.30 mins As far as many PR people are concerned advertising agencies wedded themselves to producing 30-second TV ads that no one watches any more. So what have advertising agencies become?5 mins What types of discipline specialists does VCCP have?8 mins How does an advertising agency differ from a PR firm?“The simplest way of categorising what different parts of the agency do is into paid, earned and owned and there’s obviously an enormous amount of overlap now.”12 mins Andy talks about why he thinks don’t PR firms and advertising agencies compete against each other more often.15.30 mins How much tension is there between a long-term strategic view of a brand strategy, with the need to respond to a news hook or an event?19.30 mins Agency-wise we’re living in an era of specialism over the generalist. PR firms have more specialists than ever - but Andy talks us through the extent of specialism within VCCP.22.30 mins With the level of specialisation in agencies now, is there a danger that everything just takes too long? How do you remove bureaucracy and hierarchy from a multi-specialised agency structure?“The client shouldn't feel like there dealing with a big group of people.”24.30 mins From the client's perspective, has the buying of marketing services either become or, is in danger of becoming, too confusing and too messy?“You’ve got to find a way of constructing yourself as an agency, and as a client, that is going to make that experience for the customer as seamless and consistent as possible.”27.30 mins How is the creative market for VCCP at the moment? If 2022 was an 8/10 where is the market now?“You have to be winning new business. There are going to be reasons, which are completely out of your control, that mean some clients are not going to spend as much next year as they

On the PRmoment Podcast today we’re chatting with Jo Carr, the president of Women in PR. Jo is also co-founder of PR agency Hope&Glory.Women in PR was founded in 1962. So it’s just turned 60!It has 350 members and the profile of the organisation has grown a lot over the last 10 years or so.Of all the trade associations in public relations, I’d suggest Women in PR is the one with the greatest momentum currently.For our international listeners, there is an organisation called Global Women in PR, which has a similar remit.Before we start, if you haven’t already do take a look at our new event PR Masterclass: The Agency Growth Forum.At this one event, 22 experts will give 11 Masterclasses on essential elements of managing a modern, profitable and successful PR firm. Also, a reminder that the final entry deadline for the ESG Awards is 29th September 2023.Finally, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors of the PRCA.2.30 mins Jo talks us through the raison d’etre of Women in PR“We are losing legions of brilliant women from our industry. Our (WIPR’s) mission is to increase the number and diversity of women in senior roles across the (PR) industry. We do that through networking and support, through mentoring and campaigning”.5 mins Jo outlines the barriers stopping women from reaching the most senior roles in public relations: sexism, racism, life stage changes and employer support.“The evidence shows that if…women don’t have an enlightened or progressive employer it can get in the way of their progression.”6 mins Have PR employers become better employers of women in recent times?8 mins Jo discusses the importance of having an employer brand in public relations.9 mins There are about 60,000 women working in PR in the UK, so why do Women in PR only have 350 members?10 mins Jo talks about what mentorees get out of the Women in PR mentoring scheme.13 mins Jo reveals the secrets of being a great mentor.“Great mentors are great listeners, you can’t see your mentee as a problem to be solved.”15 mins To get the most out of mentoring, what do mentorees need to bring to the scheme?“The combination between coaching and mentoring is very important”15 mins Jo talks us through the difference between mentoring and coaching.16 mins Jo discusses stats (from 2022) suggesting that the gender pay gap in public relations is getting worse.“How do we we stop so many women from leaving (PR)? If they stayed that would have the biggest impact in reducing the gender pay gap.”20 mins Jo discusses the changes the PR sector needs to make to reduce its gender pay gap.23 mins How can PR employers help their female employers more?27 mins Jo talks about how WIPR plans to increase its diversity.28 mins Jo outlines a number of resources that are useful for employers and employees wanting more information about menopause and perimenopause including mymenopausecentre.com.

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Welcome to our September review of PR Pitches and mergers & acquisitions in the UK PR scene with Andrew Bloch.He is the lead consultant - PR, Social, Content and Influencer at the new business consultancy firm AAR and a partner at PCB Partners where he advises on buying and selling marketing services agencies.Andrew was also a co-founder at PR agency Frank PR, where he is still a non-executive director.Thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors The PRCA.A reminder about our new event PR Masterclass: The Agency Growth Forum.At this one event, 22 experts will give 11 Masterclasses on essential elements of managing a modern, profitable and successful PR firm. Also, a reminder that the final entry deadline for the ESG Awards is 29th September 2023.Here is a summary of what Andrew and PRmoment podcast host Ben Smith discussed on this week’s show:2 mins Andrew gives us his rundown of this month's PR pitch winsInstinct wins Moonpig Purple wins Yoo CapitalStir wins Dunkin DonutsCirkle wins Wilkinson SwordSocial Chain wins Holland & BarrattHope&Glory wins Vision ExpressMercia wins WembleyOgilvy wins MullerOne Green Bean wins Singapore Tourist BoardTeneo wins The AAPowerscourt wins RightmoveFrank wins CupraAxicom wins AMD “A gamechanger for Axicom”15 mins Andrew updates us on this month’s M&A news:Markettier’s acquisition of SassyDefinition has raised £7m debt investment from ThinCatsAn update on the $7 billion Syneos Health deal, which sees the firm go private.

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.This is a bonus podcast where we chat about Rajar’s latest results. For those of you that aren’t aware of Rajar - it was established in 1992 and operates the single audience measurement system for the radio industry in the United Kingdom.Each quarter it publishes the listenership figures for UK radio and this offers a really interesting insight for PR people on how the UK public is engaging with this important channel.On the show today we have Alex Williamson, senior newsroom producer at Markettiers to talk us through the latest Rajar results for Q2 2023.Thanks to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Also a heads up to our PRmoment Podcast data partners - Meltwater. Do check out the program for PRmoment’s new conference launch The PR Masterclass: The Agency Growth Forum.1.30 mins Alex gives us the highlights of what PR professionals need to know about Rajar’s Q2 2023 results.“49.5 million adults listen every week to the radio each, 88% of the (UK) population.”3 mins Alex talks about the increasing gap between commercial radio and the BBC.“Commercial radio reaches 39.1 million, the BBC reaches 31.6 million.”“People want to be entertained.”“Hits Radio has gone up from 1.7 to 1.8 million listeners, Jamie and  on Heart reach 3.8 m listeners, which is catching up with Greg James on BBC Radio 1 who has just dipped below 4 m, on 3.9 m listeners.”“More than ¾ of main shoppers with kids, the people you want to reach, listen to commercial radio.”5 mins Is it easier to target audience niches within commercial radio than BBC?7 mins Why the modern structure of the radio market has big implications for PR planners.9 mins The importance of local content for radio and the implications for PR professionals.“The Ken Bruce effect has worked wonders for Greatest Hits Radio”“The BBC is still the most trusted broadcaster.”

Today on the PRmoment Podcast we’re talking about values. We’re going part history lesson, part comms theory and part future gazing. To help talk us through that kaleidoscope we’ve Rebecca Grant, UK CEO and Global Chief Brand Officer of BCW on the show.We’re going to talk about the importance of values in successful communication campaigns. The hope is that in 30 mins' time, you'll know about the basics of Schwartz’s values theory, why it matters to communications and we’ll give you an insight into the research BCW has done to take Schwartz’s theory and apply it to communications best practice.So it’s a serious show and to match such a serious topic I should mention that it’s the very serious ESG Awards entry deadline in September! Take a look at all the categories on the ESG Awards website.And thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors of the PRCA.Here is a summary of what Rebecca and I discussed on the show:2 mins Rebecca talk us through Schwartz's work on values and what it was all about.“Values are the motivational basis for what we think, feel and do…they are foundational and shape how we engage with the world. They are more constant than our attitudes, knowledge and opinions."“Values are formed in adolescence and then shape your view of the world and they remain constant.”“Your values might shift or evolve but on the whole, once your value set is formed in adolescence they remain constant.”“You will have different values, they are not mutually exclusive.”“Professor Schwartz defines the basic human values - of which there are eleven.”“Values are good predictors of future behaviours.”7.30 mins You can visit www.bcwmovatory.com to find out your own values.8 mins Rebecca talks us through Schwartz’s 11 values: Self-direction, Stimulation, Hedonism, Achievement, Power, Security, Tradition, Conformity, Universalism Societial, Universalism Nature, Benevolence.14 mins How has BCW’s research put a communications layer on top of Schartz’s work to understand how to communicate with people with different values?“As people, we will fit into 1 of the 7 Archetypes based on a combination of our core values”19 mins Why this research has huge implications for communications and content planning.23 mins Rebecca talks us through the 7 Archetypes coming out of BCW’s research.The Success Seeker, The Conformist, The Adventurer, The Visionary, The Protector, The Good Neighbour, The Traditionalist and The Conformist.25 mins Bens's core values: Benevolence, Universalism Societial, Self-direction.26 mins Rebecca’s Core Values: Benevolence, Universalism Societial, Conformity.

In this new regular format of the PRmoment Podcast with Ben Smith we’ll be catching up with UK public relations leaders - and our guests will share their in hindsight secrets that they wish they'd known at the start of their careers.This week on the PRmoment Podcast we're talking to Paul Joseph MD of Full Fat.Full Fat is a consumer PR and social agency with 18 employees. It specialises in FMCG and event work. Current clients include San Miguel, Poretti, and Sziget Festival (a massive festival in Hungary that is I'm told bigger than Glastonbury!)Paul has worked out Full Fat for just over 10 years. The agency was founded by Ella McWilliam and Megan Morass.And thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors of the PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Paul and I discussed:2 mins Paul shares his first In Hindsight Lesson: “A one-size-fits-all approach to the workforce doesn't work”“In the PR industry, there can be quite a linear approach to how people progress”“We’ve created part-time roles, we’ve offered people the opportunity to do hybrid roles.”“You’ve got to have an inclusive environment…our working model has completely changed to what it was 5 years ago.”“We offer one-to-one mental health support sessions”7 mins Paul talks us through what the word inclusive means at Full Fat, in a practical sense.8 mins Paul tells us his second In Hindsight lesson: “Trust your gut”“You have to listen to that inner voice…ultimately any decision is better than no decision.”10.30 mins Paul’s third In Hindsight Lesson: Know your superpower.11 mins Paul shares his superpower: That he’s an introvert.“PR job adverts exaggerate extroverted traits …interviews lean on extroverted traits.”“Being calm and pragmatic tends to put people at ease…the ability to really listen goes a long way with clients!”“I'm more creative when I’m on my own”14 mins Paul’s fourth In Hindsight Lesson: Don’t rest on your laurels when it comes to your DEI journey“That’s really about making sure you’re always adapting your approach”15 mins Paul talks us through the phases of Full Fat’s DEI journey over the last few years.19 mins Paul’s final in Hindsight Lesson: Treat yourselves like a client - both the people and the business“Having a profile makes a huge difference.”“You also need to be clear about what you stand for and what your positioning is, over time your position might change and you might need to give it a refresh.”“It’s about elevating voices within the agency…giving them profile.”

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Welcome to our July review of PR Pitches and mergers & acquisitions in the UK PR scene with Andrew Bloch.Andrew is a co-founder and non-executive director at Frank PR and is now lead consultant - PR, Social, Content and Influencer at the new business consultancy firm AAR. He is also a partner at PCB Partners advising on buying and selling marketing services agencies.Thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Do look at the brace of new webinars that we’ve launched on PRmoment, including Social Media in B2B and The Contribution of Comms to ESG. 2 mins Andrew contextualises the state of the new business market in UK PR currently.“In an economy that is a bit shaky…being able to demonstrate effectiveness is more important than ever.”“Why Andrew’s PR agency activity barometer is busier than ever!”8 mins Andrew gives us his rundown of PR pitch wins for July, including:Good Relations wins Starling BankFleishman wins HS1Mischief wins Team GBReady 10 wins Kind SnacksStripe wins Giggling SquidPR Network and Heathrow ExpressAzaria win VTech and LeapfrogNudge wins Kettle chipsMSL wins CurrysKetchum wins Dolmio18 mins Andrews gives us his insight into the Havas Uncommon deal.“It could be a deal that’s worth up to £120m in 6 years time”“Havas already has a reputation as one of the most creative marketing services in the world…and they are doubling down on creativity.”21 mins Andrew explains the £120m valuation of Uncommon on its current fee income of £22m.25 mins Andrew reviews SEC Newgate’s $100m investment from Investcorp, an alternative investment firm, for a 55% stake in the business. The deal is subject to regulatory approval and values SEC Newgate as a $250 m business.28 mins Andrew rounds us off by talking us through some smaller trade deals:The Bigger Boat acquires ScribaBulla acquires Hype CollectiveThere’s a management buyout at Lucre Group which rebrands to Gold79.

This week on the PRmoment Podcast we talk about what CEOs want from PR and we also identify the 7 top attributes that CEOs want in the comms directors.The folks at PR recruitment firm VMA have recently interviewed 20 CEOs and today we’re going to chat with VMA’s MD Lucy Cairncross about what she’s found out about CEO communication priorities.Thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors of the PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Lucy and I discussed:2 mins What are CEO’s current priorities?3 mins Are UK CEOs more brow beaten than their international counterparts? 4 mins The top 4 CEO concerns: International stability, economic turbulence, political changes and environmental commitments.6 mins What do CEOs want from their PR and comms teams? “Comms is central to the quality of response to those issues.”“Previously comms was a side thought, now comms is at the heart of the big issues from the very beginning.”“The breadth of responsibility that comms people have within organisations is now vast”“Successful organisations will have strength in comms”12 mins Why are CEOs still struggling with their organisation's home, hybrid or office working policies?16 mins The impact of the speed of organisational change on the priorities of the CEO.“Organisations need to adapt to survive…for some organisations, their raison d’etre will no longer be viable.”18 mins The focus and challenges the CEOs are experiencing in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I)?“DE&I requires constant attention across all functions.”21 mins PR people should sell T-shirts with this message on them: “You cannot be effective as a CEO without a trusted communicator by your side.” Robert Swaak, CEO, ABN AMRO24 mins How internal comms went to the forefront of CEO priorities during COVID.28 mins Are in-house PR and comms folks retaining the increased breadth of responsibility they gained during COVID“The expectation is the same…but they aren’t necessarily being given more headcount and more budget”32 mins Are comms directors now more important than marketing directors?“Where they aren’t aligned and where they don’t work together, those cracks really show”“They are aligned functions but not the same function.”35 mins The 7 top attributes that CEOs want in the comms directors:Subject matter expertiseEmpathyNuanceClarityConnectionAgilityCoolness under fire41 mins Lucy reflects on the current state of the in-house PR jobs market.

 In a new regular format of the PRmoment Podcast with Ben Smith we’ll be catching up with UK public relations leaders - and our guests will share their in hindsight secrets that they wish they'd known when they started their businesses! Today we're chatting with Greg Double, creative director of consumer PR agency Mischief.Mischief is the consumer PR arm of MHP. MHP and Mischief are owned by Next Fifteen, which acquired them from Engine last year. Mischief has recently won Diageo and Team GB accounts. Other clients include Lego, Just Eat, and Ocado. MHP which owns Mischief has a fee income of about £33 m and 200 employees.Greg has previously worked at Frank and Ready 10. He has been at Mischief for 3.5 years.And thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors of the PRCA.Here is a summary of what Greg and I discussed: 2 mins Greg confirms the re-appearance of the Mischief brand as the consumer arm of MHP!4 mins Greg gives his first in hindsight lesson: He should not have started his career at Blue Rubicon! (now Teneo.)“I was too young to start in corporate PR...everyone had done a Masters!”“I was too immature to be in that game”“The graduate scheme was Apprentice style…I’d never been tested like that before.”“You have a responsibility to keep learning.”11 mins Greg gives us his second in hindsight lesson: Don’t get bowel cancer at 33.“I’m down half a bowel, I had chemotherapy last year.”“Deborah James is the reason I got checked, which was very lucky for me.”“We need to destigmatise chemotherapy!”“The obsessive part of me has been erased away a bit.”“I’m constantly terrified it’s going to come back…so I’ve made some staunch lifestyle changes.”“I love that I still care about my work.”“I’m proud mentally I’ve retained a balance.”21 mins Greg first had symptoms in Oct 2021, when the Omicron strain of COVID was kicking off - which meant he was unable to get a GP appointment.“Because I had private healthcare, through work, there is a legitimate argument that work saved my life there.”“The NHS is the best in the world for saving your life, the worst in the world for knowing your life needs saving.”25mins Greg outlines the symptoms that mean you should go and get checked out for Bowel Cancer. Things to look out for: Blood in your poo, if your poo habits change, waking up in the middle of the night desperate to go to the toilet.27 mins Greg talks about why he will no longer eat processed or ultra-processed foods.30 mins Greg talks about his third in hindsight lesson: Don’t be afraid to evolve your career.“By embracing opportunities your career will end up in a better place.”34 mins Greg talks about why “demographics are useful but fundamentally dead” 35 mins Greg describes the work Mischief is doing to try and bring science to targeting an audience with a specific passion.“Demographics are growth limiting”“Earned is essential for passion…you can’t pay for passion - you have to earn it.”

Ready 10 founder David Fraser is the next guest in our new In Hindsight series on the PRmoment Podcast.In this new regular format of the PRmoment Podcast with Ben Smith we’ll be catching up with UK public relations leaders - and our guests will share their in hindsight secrets that they wish they'd known when they started their businesses!Today we're chatting with the founder of Ready 10 David Fraser.Ready 10 has revenues of £4 m and 35 employees. It is a consumer PR shop based in London. Clients include McDonald's, Brewdog, Reed and Paddy Power. David founded the business about 7 years ago.It's 5 years since David's been on the PRmoment Podcast it was David who persuaded me to launch it all those years back! So thank you, David, we now get between 5-6 thousand listeners a month and people seem to enjoy the show.If you haven’t taken a look already - do check out the Creative Moment Awards website, the final entry deadline is on Friday 30th June 2023And thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors of the PRCA.Here’s a summary of what David and I talked about:2 mins David tells us his in hindsight first lesson: How to position your business.“Your positioning isn’t a fixed thing, it’s an evolving thing.”9 mins David’s 2nd in hindsight lesson: How to push through the £1m barrier13 mins David talks about how can build extensions to your business without damaging the original.“When there’s 10, 15,25 of you (employees), the values you want to hold get lost unless you write them down and push them through the business.”15 mins David’s 3rd lesson: The importance of values in a business20 mins David 4th in Hindsight Lesson: “When the tide goes out, you can see who has been running things properly.”“We didn’t make any redundancies, we didn’t take a penny of furlough money from the government”26.30 mins David’s 5th Lesson: “You can lose everything in an instant”“I am the grandson of a holocaust survivor”“Don’t ever think that anything is permanent, things can change in an instant, be ready for that uncertainty”32 mins David reveals his 6th and final lesson: People (employees) always want more. “You have to design a structure that takes them with you if you want them to grow, rather than pushes them away.”“No one is turning up to work every day to make me (David Fraser) successful!”

Welcome to PRmoment Podcast. This week it’s our June Global Creativity Review so we are talking creativity with our wonderful panel who will identify and chat about some of the best bits of creativity they have seen in the past month or so.On the show today to help us review some of the best creative work are:Kim Allain, creative lead, MSL Ottilie Ross, creative director, HalpernTom Rouse, creative director, Pitch Marketing GroupThis is the third episode of our monthly global creativity reviews -  here are our reviews for March and April. (May seemed to get a bit too frantic and I forgot, sorry!)This special PRmoment Podcast about creativity is, naturally enough, bought to you in partnership with Creative Moment. The final deadline for The Creative Moment Awards is Friday 30th June.Here is a summary of what we chatted about:2 mins We kick off with some creative trends identified by Kim, Ottilie and Tom:“We seemed to have gone back in time…The PR stunt is back!”“Not everything (needs) to work across every channel”“Integrated work works when you have time to deliver it!”6 mins Ottilie talks about the first piece of work that caught her eye this month - Lulu Lemon DupesHow Lulu Lemon leaned into the #dupe culture rather than fighting against it.“You won’t need dupes when you use the real thing!”“Really single-minded, really brave and great visuals”“Dupe culture on Tiktok is people who are trying to buy into something but can’t afford it…so this is a great way for them (Lulu Lemon) to tap into that culture of dupes and TikTok and Gen Z but (it) also widens their consumer range.”1 min Tom talks about Elvi’s recent work to raise awareness of the pelvic floor: Pelvic Floor PlaylistElvi has released a playlist of 3 tracks that replicates the sound your pelvic floor has during different times: Orgasm, menstruation and pregnancy.“It (the campaign) gets you to think, it gets you to unlock it. And (from a PR point of view) it gives you a different asset. (Journalist) pitch desks get thoughts of pitches - how many are getting sent playlists?”13 mins The panel discusses whether men have a pelvic floor. They do!“The campaign makes the pelvic floor feel more real”“Any woman who experiences periods… knows that when it gets to a certain point of the month you know there’s something going on in your body but your not sure what it looks like but you just know it’s about to be a roller coaster of a ride and can’t wait until the week after…and putting some tangibility to it to allow women and men to experience what that is like in terms of sound is really strong.”17 mins Ottilie talks about a prince of work that impressed her this month: The Beautiful Sound: from the American Society of Clinical Oncology.The sound of cancer cells dying: https://www.themostbeautifulsound.org/“I loved the campaign but they could have taken it a bit further.”“There are so many ways you could build on his cam

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Welcome to our June review of PR Pitches and mergers & acquisitions in the UK PR scene with Andrew Bloch.Andrew is a co-founder and non-executive director at Frank PR and is now lead consultant - PR, Social, Content and Influencer at the new business consultancy firm AAR. He is also a partner at PCB Partners where he advises on buying and selling marketing services agencies.Thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.If you haven’t taken a look already - do check out all the categories on the Creative Moment Awards website, the early entry deadline is on Friday 30th June 2023.2 mins Andrew gives us his rundown of PR pitch wins for June:Alfred win Westfield Shopping CentresThe Academy win Epson Finn Partners win Tuscany Tourist BoardCow win Gilead Science JPR win Hilton Luxury BrandsTaylor Herring win UnisonBrazen win CastoreHill & Knowlton win Costa CoffeeStripe Communications win Honest BurgersMSL win The FAEdelman win Haribo Portland win Airlines for EuropeThe Romans win Mecca BingoKlaxonn win Grand Designs Life11.30 mins Andrew reveals the ideal length of a client: agency partnership.“You get the best out of people when you know them and you trust them”13 mins Andrew refutes the suggestion that the PR pitch and new business market has gone very quiet.Ben Smith: “Are things as bad as some people say?”Andrew Bloch: “No…it’s a bit scrappy…things are slower to sign off.But I’m dealing with more briefs than I’ve ever had to deal with in my 3 years at the AAR.”18 mins Andrew gives us his M&A update for June:Brandtech Group acquire Jellyfish from Private Equity firm FimalacOne Equity Partners takes a majority stake in Smarts owner MSQ. 

The Academy co-founder Mitch Kaye is the first guest in our new In Hindsight series on the PRmoment Podcast.In a new regular format of the PRmoment Podcast with Ben Smith we’ll be catching up with UK public relations leaders - and our guests will share their in hindsight secrets that they wish they'd known when they started their businesses!Mitch co-founded The Academy with Dan Glover in 2014. Previously he was the founder and CEO of Mischief. The Academy is a consumer PR shop in London. It has a fee income of £6m, 55 employees and clients include Amazon, Morrisons and Disney.Have you ever made a decision you later regretted, all because you let your ego get the better of you? That's what happened to our guest, Mitch Kay, founder of The Academy, early in his 25-year public relations career. Join us as Mitch candidly shares his hindsight lessons on controlling ego, making impactful decisions, and the importance of timing in both career and life.We also dive into the topic of achieving impact and avoiding complacency in your career.If you haven’t taken a look already - do check out the Creative Moment Awards website, the final entry deadline is on Friday 30th June 2023And thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors of the PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Mitch and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:1.30 mins Mitch reveals that he’s been working for 25 years!3 mins Mitch tells us his first insight lesson: Ego“When I look back over the past 25 years some of my worst decisions have been ego lead.”“It’s a miserable experience when your ego is out of control and you fall badly.”7 mins What are the warning signs that your ego is getting out of control?11 mins Mitch talks us through his 2nd in hindsight lesson: Impact.“Being busy… managing an inbox - is rarely impactful.”17 mins Mitch talks about the most useful training session he’s ever had: writing his obituary!20 mins Mitch’s final in hindsight lesson: Timing.“The importance that timing plays, in life and in careers.”21 mins How showing loyalty in a time of change can accelerate your career.“Leave a job when you’re doing brilliantly in that job.”

Can AI revolutionize journalism and help us create more compelling stories? Join us in this fascinating conversation with Jane Wakefield, a former senior tech journalist at the BBC, and Aaron Kwittken, founder/CEO of PRophet, as we explore the impact of AI on newsrooms, PR teams, publishing models, and the free press. We'll discuss the potential of AI for spreading misinformation, its role in storytelling, and even how The Guardian has been an early adopter of AI technology.As we delve into the future of journalism, we'll examine how data journalism and AI can transform newsrooms and the free press. Learn about speeding up story turnaround times, managing bias with private AI systems, and adapting to the public's changing relationship with mainstream media. Plus, get insights into training newsroom staff on how to effectively prompt and query AI tools for better results.In an era where trust and quality journalism are critical, we'll consider how organizations like the BBC are adapting to the challenges posed by AI in news. Discover the importance of public education in identifying real and fake news and the potential reactions to an increased reliance on AI in journalism.

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast, on the show today we’re discussing how to improve the connectivity between public relations and journalism - is there a way to create a more efficient workflow between PRs and journalists?We’ll ask whether the relationship between PR and journalists is becoming damaged beyond repair and look and the reasons why this mutually beneficial relationship isn’t working better.To talk about this we’ve got Charlie Russell who is the founder of Synapse. Synapse is aiming to take more of a marketplace approach to the intersection of PR and journalism by trying to remove the inefficiencies and frustrations of email from the daily workflow of PR professionals and journalists.Before we start if you haven't taken a look already, the final entry deadline for The Creative Moment Awards is Friday 30th June.Thanks to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.1.30 mins Is the communication bridge between PRs and journalists broken?“It’s bonkers that email has become the default channel for PR: journalist relations…it’s not an efficient or effective 2-way communications channel”7 mins How useful are PRs for modern journalists? Are journalists, in the main, still keen to engage?12 mins Why the SEO sector’s evolution to “digital PR” and its desire for editorial links has resulted in a massive increase in the number of press releases sent to journalists.“One journalist I spoke to got about 1000 emails a day…another got roughly 1 a minute, mostly from PRs.”“Every email spawns another email.”“It’s a real shame email has become the go-to channel for media relations, but it has.”“PR teams spend far too much time writing/sending repetitive emails.”17 mins To what extent do the pressures of email impact the mental health of both PRs and journalists?20.30 mins Charlie talks us through the functionality of Synapse that he hopes will improve the PR: journalist workflow.

Every six months or so I like to catch up with the shy and reserved Warren Johnson from W Communications on the podcast to talk about the financial state of UK PR.And to my surprise- it’s that time again. The first 6 months of 2023 are basically done and dusted.My sense is that it’s been a bit of a phoney 6 months or so - the PR sector has been expecting a downturn but beyond a significant tech sector-wide wobble at the start of the year, which has in the main come back, it’s been OK, not stellar but OK. And in many cases surprisingly OK.But on the show today we’re going to chat about some of the recent league table results we’ve seen in PR, what constituted good numbers last year, and how the last 6 months have been. We’ll also attempt to put some predictions on what might be about to happen next.W has a fee income of £15m, with offices in London, New York and Singapore. It employs approximately 180 people globally and 150 odd in London.A reminder that the final entry deadline for The Creative Moment Awards is Friday 30th June.Thanks to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what PRmoment founder Ben Smith and Warren discussed:3 mins Warren reviews the performance of UK PR in the first half of the year. What’s up, what’s down, what’s flat?“What was quite alarming...was that despite the UK agencies reporting strong growth, they were falling down the international rankings”“We (the UK) are not fully aware of our own demise at the moment and what a second-rate country we’re becoming”“UK PR had a strong start to the year… and there is now some preemptive belt tightening client side”Everyone had a strong Q1 with a slight softening in Q2 as the economic outlook, which doesn't get any worse but shows no sign of recovery.”“Overall H1 was relatively robust but we all (PR firms) had to work a bit harder than we were expecting to make those numbers”9 mins Bearing in mind inflation how much did PR firms need to frow last year, to increase their profits?“Our profits grow in line with our revenue…we’ve not had any challenges in our margin.”“It’s something Graham Goodkind once told me - he said he wanted one thing as a KPI for him as a CEO and that’s a margin number”“It’s harder t maintain that margin than it ever has been, there’s been rampant wage inflation and a requirement to offer greater benefits than there ever has been.”“We’re big advocates of in-person collaboration so we’re doing as much as we can to encourage people into the office but that comes at a cost.”“The other big hidden cost is mental health - which increasingly seems to be sitting away from the government (as a responsibility) and on employers.”“We just rolled out private health care for our company and extended to private mental health care - important to do but these are all costs that chip away at the margin.”“As an industry, we are very good at being inventive…as our margin gets challenged in one area we are able to find opportunities… in certain other areas.”“I certainly get the sense that people are pitching a lot less…pitching is probably the most inefficient thing you can ever do.”“The less you pitch the better…that will hit your margin more than wage inflation”13 mins  What do clients want at the moment?

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast. On the show today we’re revealing the six key themes from AMEC’s Measurement Summit 2023. To reveal those trends we have Steph Bridgeman, founder of Experienced Media Analysts and Richard Bagnall who is a co-managing partner of Carma. Before we start if you haven't taken a look already, the final entry deadline for The Creative Moment Awards is Friday 30th June.Thanks to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here is a summary of what Steph and Richard PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:2 mins Theme One: Why earned media is value not vanity for brands. “The role earned can play in PESO”“There’s nothing quite like an AMEC disco”“Paid is 4 times more expensive than it was 5 years ago, brands simply can’t afford to put paid first anymore”5 mins PR people don’t need to feel they are on the back foot with their data.7 mins Theme Two: The impact of AI on PR measurement“Learn how to ask better questions to get better answers”“The bulk of future content on the internet will be produced by AI, in turn, this content will train the next family of generative AI tools”“ The Gen Zers of today are probably the most insular group we’ve ever had”11 mins Where are we on the evolution of the accuracy of AI measurement?“It’s incredibly powerful and impressive but it needs strong guardrails…you need to check everything, it’s so compelling with what it produces you think it must be right but if you don’t check it mistakes will follow.”14 mins Richard explains the copyright concerns with Generative AI.17 mins Theme Three: Programme logic models are here to stay.“If we want to demonstrate our measurement journey we have to move from outputs to outcomes”(PR) must as an industry avoid substitution error”Here is a link to AMEC Integrated Evaluation Framework that Richard and Steph discuss on the show The Integrated Evaluation Framework.And here is a link to the “AMEC Integrated Evaluation Framework Tutorial - which PRmoment has negotiated free access to for our readers/listeners for the next 60 days (normal cost £149 apparently, thank us later!) Discount code: PRMoment23And here is the link for the “AMEC Foundation course in Media Measurement & Evaluation.” Discount code: PRMoment2323 mins Theme Four: The importance of data storytelling“The importance of being interesting and useful!”“Don’t have a data puke into your reports”“Can we find the one key insight that will guide our strategy”28 mins Theme Five: The importance of data confidence in public relations31 mins The difference between last-click attribution and contributionTheme Six: The importance of ongoing measurement education in PR and communications“The time for excuses is over”“Earned media’s time is now”“We can’t just count stuff”“We mustn't confuse counting and measuring activity (ie: being busy fools) with demonstrating value”37.30 mins Steph gives PR a 3/10 on its measurement journey in the last 5 years - but for some organisations, it's a 10/10.

Today we're chatting with industry legend a long-time owner of Propeller - Martin Loat. We look back on his 30 years working in public relations and including 22 years as a PR agency owner at Propeller.Martin talks about the ups and downs of agency ownership and why he decided now was the right time to exit. In March Martin sold the business via an MBO to Kieran Kent, Jody Osman and Rose Bentlley in an MBO backed by Triple Point Ventures.Propeller is a B2B PR firm with a turnover of £4 million with 44 employees.If you haven’t taken a look already - do check out the Creative Moment Awards website, the final entry deadline is on Friday 30th June 2023And thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors of the PRCA.]Here is a summary of what Martin and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed: 1.30 mins Martin tells us why he decided now was the right time to sell his business.“I did feel I’d taken Propeller as far as I could in my own vision - I was at the helm for 22 years!”3 mins Why did Martin decide an MBO was a better option, rather than an EOT?5 mins How does it feel after 22 years to not be involved with Propeller? Relieved, sad, happy?8 mins Martin reflects on the stages of Propeller over the 22 years.Lesson 1: Work for a well-run PR firm before you start your own businessLesson 2: Cashflow!Lesson 3: How to focus on growth.“Win them, keep them, grow them!”Lesson 4: What hiring the best people really looks like.Lesson 5: Developing a proper new business plan“My story is about a range of self-learnt lessons”Lesson 6: Your staff/ peopleLesson 7: Keep developing your offer“If you only have one egg in the basket - if something goes wrong you’re under a bit of pressure”Lesson 8: You have to change your structure as you grow.“One of the lesions is that the structure you are now is probably not the right one for growth”Lesson 9: Learning from your mistakesLesson 10: Delegation38 mins Having spent 25 + years in PR - is Martin hopeful or fearful about the future of the sector?41 mins What does good B2B communications currently look like?42 mins What’s next for Martin?

 Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast with PRmoment founder Ben Smith. Today on the show we’re chatting with Fran Ashcroft, senior director, of EMEA Communications at Intel. Fran has worked for Intel for nearly 15 years at the firm and is currently preparing for an 8-week sabbatical.We’re going to talk about Fran’s 15 years in-house at Intel. We‘ll cover what modern international communications looks like, how the in-house side has changed and what a modern agency partnership looks like.If you haven’t taken a look already - do check out the Creative Moment Awards website, the early entry deadline is on Friday 26th May 2023.And thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.Here is a summary of what Fran and Ben Smith discussed:1.30 mins Fran talks about her excitement that she’s off on sabbatical in a few weeks' time.“I don’t think I’ve ever had 8 weeks off work”3.00 mins Over 130,000 people work for Intel globally - what is the role of comms in an organisation of that size?5.00 mins Fran gives an insight into the complexity of running a global comms programme.“You have to focus your energy on what is going to make the biggest moments”“We have to make music not noise”“A key point of 360 communications is that anything you put out internally there is always the possibility of a leak”7.30 mins Fran talks about the globalisation of communications and the implications of that on strategy and team organisation.12 mins What is the mix between leadership, coordination and strategy in an international communications role?“Our corporate narrative was inconsistent depending on where you were in the world”“We were quite dictatorial when it came to managing who could be a spokesperson”16 mins What do communications as a strategic function look like for an organisation like Intel?“Communications became absolutely critical when COVID hit - whether you’re talking to your employees, whether your talking to external, whether you’re helping your customers… Because of that comms become the spearhead of all company activity - communications has never been more respected than it is now.”“Everything that we do we measure…having the data that supports our activity makes us accountable for what we’re doing.”20 mins Outside of the PR team - who are the biggest cheerleaders for PR inside Intel’s senior leadership?“We do very few third-party press releases because the return on investment on it is tiny”21 mins  If Intel’s comms and marketing department were in the same function comms would be less effective?“Nowadays the recognition and understanding of our craft has changed that (the understanding of the different role of comms compared to marketing) rapidly.”23 mins What does the business demand of the comms dept?“Our number one goal  is to protect and promote Intel's reputation and share our vision with the world”26 mins Fran explains Intel’s hub and spoke model including in-house and agency teams globally.27 mins Fran talks about Intel’s quarterly scorecard for the communications team - including what KPIs are included in the scorecard.29 mins Fran describes Intel's comms team as an “outcome-driven team” - what outcomes do they concentrate on?

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.This is a bonus podcast where we chat about Rajar’s latest results. For those of you that aren’t aware of Rajar - it was established in 1992 and operates the single audience measurement system for the radio industry in the United KingdomEach quarter it publishes the listenership figures for UK radio and this offers a really interesting insight for PR people on how the UK public is engaging with this important channel. On the show today we have Alex Blakemore, newsroom producer at Markettiers to talk us through the latest Rajar results for Q1 2023.If you haven't taken a look already, the early entry deadline for The Creative Moment Awards is coming up on Friday 26th May.Thanks to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Alex and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:1 min Alex gives us the highlights of this quarter's Rajar results.88 % of the population listens to the radio each week!49.3 m adults in the UK listen to the radio each week with an average of 20.4 hours per weekTotal radio listening overtakes TV.7 mins Alex summarises who’s winning the battle between BBC local radio and commercial local radio.10 mins Alex discusses the rise in Talk Sports listenership, potentially linking the rise to the recent men's football World Cup and Women’s Euros.12 mins The ups, downs and flatlining of the Ken Bruce effect!14 mins Heart’s Breakfast Show with Jamie and Amanda surpasses 4 million listeners a week for the first time, closing the gap on Greg James’ Radio 1 show.15.30 mins The trend of using radio content across different channels - simulcasting.17 mins The opportunities for PR people across radio

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Welcome to our May review of PR Pitches and mergers & acquisitions in the UK PR scene with Andrew Bloch.Andrew is a co-founder and non-executive director at Frank PR and is now lead consultant - PR, Social, Content and Influencer at the new business consultancy firm AAR. He is also a partner at PCB Partners where he advises on buying and selling marketing services agencies.Thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.If you haven’t taken a look already - do check out all the categories on the Creative Moment Awards website, the early entry deadline is on Friday 26th May 2023.2 mins Andrew brings us news of wins for:Words + Pixels win GrazePHA win The National GalleryFreud and Pizza ExpressTeneo and EasyjetKingdom Collective and Doc MartinHouston and DominosThe Herd and W Hotels11 mins Andrew reviews this month's PR mergers and acquisitionsPearl acquires KineticDefinition acquires OTM, its sixth purchase since 2020.Here’s the link to the article mentioned in the podcast from Heather Baker, CEO of Definition Group, discussing why agencies benefit from joining forces.News of a huge potential private equity deal for Syneos Health 

Welcome to a new PRmoment Podcast format where we look at the PR job market with Dean Connelly, founder & PR recruitment director at Latte.We talk about all things PR recruitment - looking at some of the biggest moves we’ve seen recently and discuss some of the trends in the PR job market at the momentIf you haven’t taken a look already - do check out the Creative Moment Awards website, the early entry deadline is on Friday 26th May 2023And thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors The PRCA.Here is a summary of what Dean and I discussed:2 mins Dean tells us some of the most interesting people move that have caught his eye.3.30 mins Dean gives us his PR jobs market barometer update.“We haven't seen a slowdown in the hiring spree…it’s still a candidate-driven market…we’ve seen a plateau in salary increases.”“You’d be hard-pressed to get an AE for £24K, it’s starting at £26/27K”“We’re still seeing a lot of the small and medium-sized agencies who maybe don’t have such a strong brand in the market have jobs open for up to 6 months, they really struggle to attract talent”8.30 mins Dean gives talks about PRmoment’s Top PR 10 Jobs feature and why there are some great PR roles out there in the market.10 mins Dean talks about why it’s often harder to recruit in PR outside of London.13 mins Dean tells us what are the main drivers for people leaving agencies at the moment.17.30 mins Why it’s important for PR agencies to build a good brand.19 mins How do PR employers get the recruitment process wrong?“Hiring managers rarely prepare for the interview!”“There are a few hiring managers out there who make candidates feel uncomfortable from the outset”

On the show today we’re talking about the results of the PRCA’s Governance Review with Ray Eglington, who is a board member of the PRCA and Group MD of Four Communications.Before we start a quick plug for our next couple of webinars: LinkedIn as a Marketing Channel and The March of PR: The increasing dominance of earned media ideas in integrated marketing.Here’s a summary of what Ray and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:2 mins Ray gives an overview of the PRCA Governance Review.“This is about creating a structure for the next phase of the PRCA’s growth”“It (the size of the PRCA) probably got a bit ahead of the governance of the organisation.”“We’ve completely reworked the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the organisation - the rules of how the organisation can operate”“People need clear authority so they know what the bit of the PRCA that they are part of can and should be doing.”“Currently the board is of over 30 different directors..that will slim down to a total of 10 people, 8 of them from within the industry, from a clear election process. We’ll have 2 independent directors.”“There will be an audit and risk committee - so we’ve got clear management of the finances of the organisation…it will oversee a nominations and remunerations committee so that senior executives within the PRCA - how they are chosen, how there appraised, how they are evaluated and how they are rewarded is done transparently”9 mins Does the governance of a non-profit organisation membership organisation differ from a normal commercial organisation?10 mins Why did the PRCA decide it needed to have a governance review?“There was a huge amount of goodwill from members but they wanted to be sure that the PRCA is operating to UK and global best practice.”“We only need to look at the CBI to understand the importance of good governance and a good reputation for trade bodies” Ben Smith, founder, PRmoment12 mins What is the rollout for the governance changes at the PRCA?“There will be an extraordinary general meeting in September of this year, where members will have a chance to review and agree on a new management board and a new president (which is a new role) that will then take us forward to the next AGM in April/May (2024.)”14 mins Ray talks about the new President and Vice President roles that are being proposed.16 mins Ray talks about whether the death of Francis Ingham was covered in the governance review.Here is PRmoment founder Ben Smith’s post which gives some more context into the death of the PRCA’s ex-CEO Francis Ingham, if you haven’t read it already.

This week we are talking creativity with a review of some of the best bits of creativity our panel has seen in the past month or so.On the show today to help us review some of the best creative work are:Lora Martyr, creative director, Taylor HerringDaniel Glover, co-founder & creative director, The AcademyIndy Selvarajah, chief creative officer, Global Markets, KetchumThis is the second episode of our now newish monthly global creativity review on the PRmoment podcast.Each month we will feature a rolling panel of PR creatives and in each episode our panellists will choose the favourite creative work they’ve seen recently.This special PRmoment Podcast about creativity is, naturally enough, bought to you in partnership with Creative Moment and I’d highlight the Creative Moment Awards which are now open for entries, the final entry deadline is Friday 30th June.I’d also encourage you to check out this week’s Good and Bad PR. One fun story from this week is about a river in Cumbria called the Swindale Beck. Over 200 years ago the locals cut out the meanders and made the river straight, to increase the footprint of the farmland. But the move killed all the fish that had happily swam up and down the river up until that point. The straightening had made the water flow faster and the fish could no longer survive.So the RSPB and United Utilities and their friends have “re-wiggled” the river and the fish have come back and nature is at one with itself once again.A beautiful story to end on and our dear friends at Meltwater have been in touch to put some data behind this PR wonderfulness - unsurprisingly the word fish dominated the top positive keywords and there were 3.2 thousand engagements of the story on social channels. Do check out this week’s Good and Bad PR for all the background.Thanks as ever to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors The PRCA. Here’s a summary of what PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed with Lora, Indy and Dan4 mins Indy Selvarajah tells us why he loves the Ravi Superstar Adidas collab.“The campaign is built on a lovely human insight from an immigrant community”“It’s beautifully crafted - it’s got that beautiful key visual you can use across all channels”“This is about integration, about seeing something that lives across everything.”“The best campaigns I see are those that are crafted within an inch of their life”“This is a campaign where Adidas start to feel like an underdog again”13 mins Dan Glover talks us through 3 of his favourite recent campaigns:Ford recreates the 100-year-old story of Aloha Wanderwell’s pioneering drive around the world in a Ford Model T, this time with travel influencer Lexie Alford behind the wheel of a Ford all-electric Explorer launch.

On the show this week we talk to Rich Dawes, managing director of DawBell. DawBell is one of the UK’s largest entertainment PR firms, working across talent, music and events.Clients include The Brits, Paul McCartney, Harry Styles, Elton John, James Corden and The Prince Estate.The firm has over 40 employees.Today we’re going to talk about the role of a modern publicist - and how it's changed in recent times.We’ll also talk about the story of Rich and DawBell, including a discussion of what has been a pretty tough 12 months for Rich on a personal level and the implications of that on his professional life.Don’t miss our trio of webinars that are currently live on the homepage:LinkedIn as a Marketing ChannelWhat are the implications of generative AI for public relations?The March of PR: The increasing dominance of earned media ideas in integrated marketingThanks as ever to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors The PRCA. Here’s a summary of what Rich Dawes and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:1 min Why is the role of the publicist back in vogue?1.30 mins How does the role of a publicist differ from a more generalist public relations role?3 mins What does a modern publicist do?“There’s been a shift from broadcast to narrowcast”6 mins Has the rise of the celebrity CEO increased the demand for publicists?9 mins Two of DawBell's clients are Elton John and Paul McCartney. It must be pretty cool working for a couple of legends?11 mins Rich talks about how his passion for music led to a career as a publicist.13 mins Rich talks us through how he and Stuart Bell met and why they decided to go into partnership to set up DawBell17 mins Rich discusses how he’s had a tough couple of years personally.“Life won’t always give you lemonade”“I learnt to be optimistic but prepare for the worse”19  mins Why everyone should record a Desert Island Disc with their parents“As the years go by you do forget what they (your parents) sounded like”21 mins Is it tougher to scale a publicity business than a general PR firm?24 mins Rich likes a quote or 4 and recommends 5 books he reckons PR people should read.Rich’s favourite 5 quotes:“The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it’s taken place”, “To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.”“The 3 stages of truth: ridicule, violent opposition and acceptance”“If the shit is bigger than the cat, walk away”“There are 2 rules for success: never reveal everything you know”

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Welcome to our April review of PR Pitches and mergers & acquisitions in the UK PR scene with Andrew Bloch.Andrew is a co-founder and non-executive director at Frank PR and is now lead consultant - PR, Social, Content and Influencer at the new business consultancy firm AAR. He is also a partner at PCB Partners where he advises on buying and selling marketing services agencies.Thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Don’t miss our trio of webinars that are currently live on the homepage:LinkedIn as a Marketing ChannelWhat are the implications of generative AI for public relations?The March of PR: The increasing dominance of earned media ideas in integrated marketing2 mins Andrew gives us his rundown of April’s biggest PR pitch winsKingdom Collective win the PR brief for the energy drink Relentless.Mind + Matter win SuperdrugHope&Glory win PowerleageueRichmond Towers win Calrsbeerg Marston brief Shipyard, Wainrights and Hobgoblin beersFrank win Revel and CrockpotFull Fat win PuttshackSpeed win Haven HolidaysVisible win Flying TigerKetchum win IcelandReady 10 win BrewdogPitch win AutotraderAdhuro win Tetley and Tea Pigs12 mins Andrew gives us his monthly rundown of the most significant PR mergers and acquisitions in April, it’s mainly trade deals this month:Edelman buy Landmark Public Affairs in BrusselsWeber buy Diverse InteractiveWPP buy the influencer agency GoatAPCO buy CamarcoKKR buy FSG GlobalSWNS buy Pinpep

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Today we’re chatting about how generative AI change PR. To be frank, there’s been no shortage of articles and LinkedIn posts on this but on the podcast today we’ll get to have a proper chat to talk about generative ai in PR.On the show, I’ve got a wise panel to chat about these issues including:Maya Koleva, head of research and insight, CommetricRosie Bannister, managing director, AxicomPaul Wooding, vice president, corporate communications, KXWe’ve all watched AI slowly increase its relevance in our lives until about 4 months ago generative AI Chat GPT exploded into our consciousness and PR folks, like lots of other people, started questioning our roles in life!More recently we’ve seen the launch of Chat GPT 4 which is bigger and better and more accurate than Chat GPT 3.On the show today we’re going to talk about how, when and why generative AI will impact public relations and the people that work within it.Before we start don’t forget to purchase your tickets for The PRmoment Awards from the awards site PRmomentAwards.comThanks as ever to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors The PRCA. Here’s a summary of what Maya, Paul, Rosie and PRmoment founder Ben Smith spoke about on the show:2 mins For those out there listening to this who may not have followed this story - what is Chat GPT and what is generative AI?4 mins Rosie talks us through a generative AI-produced report from CES that Axicom partnered on. 7 mins Paul Wooding gives an in-house perspective on the value of generative AI in content creation. “You play with it (generative AI) and you just get better and better at using it.”“(As an in-house PR professional) I’m thinking ‘What am I going to be paying agencies for in the future that previously was considered an absolutely bonafide use of (agency) time?’ That’s a useful thing for us to have in all of our minds - it sharpens us in our understanding of where this technology is going to go.”“Very soon we will be able to stick a front end on a media database and within minutes be able to ask it… to bang out a briefing document for a journalist. That used to take 3 to 4 hours. That is something we all need to get our head around.”12 mins How will AI change the role of PR agencies?13 mins How will AI change agency job titles?14 mins How will PR firms continue to add value to their clients?16 mins Maya Koleva reviews the implications of generative AI for the media measurement market.18 mins Are we a step closer to AI automated measurement of the media?“You need structured tagged data for AI to learn. We’re seeing that sentiment personification with GPT-based models works better.”20 mins Who owns AI content?23 mins How might the NLA respond to AI scraping publisher websites?“The value of really good earned media is going to bubble up right to the top”“Effectively - content from publishers is being used to train AI models..neither the journalist nor the publication will get credit for this.”“The copyright of generated content from AI models: in a way you own some sort of  creativity by prompting even though the output is based on models”“If you are feeding an article by a scraper or by copy and pasting…you get the summary out of the model and then distribute that to your clients - this is called derivatives and most publishers would require (you to have) separate licenses for this.”28 mins Will PR agencies need to evolve to

An insiders view of the structure, skill set and role of a modern in-house communications teamWelcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Today we’re chatting with Bibi Hilton, CEO of Creative Access Known to PR people everywhere for her first career working in public relations which included stints and The Red Consultancy and Golin - Bibi was appointed CEO of Creative Access in September last year.Creative Access describes itself as a social enterprise providing career-long access, opportunities, support and training for people from under-represented groups, to help make the creative industries reflect society. It offers individual support, employers help and partnerships and has a range of resources aimed at helping underrepresented groups break into the creative sectors.Time is now short but you can still purchase your tickets for The PRmoment Awards from the awards site PRmomentAwards.comThanks as ever to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors The PRCA. Here’s a summary of what Bibi and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed: 2 mins Bibi explains the mission and raison d’etre of Creative Access.“Our mission is to build a creative economy that really reflects the society it serves”“We work to improve access to (creative) careers..through training, development programs and helping employers build more inclusive cultures”“There are a lot of commonalities in terms of the challenges that creative organisations face when it comes to diversity equity and inclusion but there isn’t a one size fits all solution to any of those challenges.”“If you don’t have the data it’s impossible to put in place an effective plan”8 mins How is Creative Access funded?8.30 mins How can creative employers become better employers of minority groups?“Salary transparency is critical”11 mins What do creative employers who don’t have a diverse range of employees get wrong?17.30 mins How can individuals come to Creative Access for help19 mins How representative of the population is the creative sector? And what about PR?21 mins What does good representation look like? What are we aiming for?26 mins What can PR learn from other sectors of the creative sector in its journey towards greater diversity?

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Today we’re chatting with 3 of Google's communications team to give us an inside view of how a modern PR and communications team works.On the show are Jo Ogunleye, B2B communications lead, UK, Julie Dilger, head of external communications, Google Ireland and Olivia O'Brien, senior associate, product communiou can still purchase your tickets for The PRmoment Awards from the awards site PRmomentAwards.comThanks as ever to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors The PRCA. I’d also encourage you to check out this week’s Good and Bad PR on PRmoment. As ever there’s a range of highlights and lowlights but one of my favourite stories this week was that Pepsi has rolled out a new visual brand identity and also revealed that it would include 57% less sugar.Exclusive analysis from Meltwater shows how the news exploded across social media resulting in 137k mentions and 1.03m engagements.Do check out this week’s Good and Bad PR for more insight on that from Meltwater.Here’s a summary of what Jo, Julie and Olivia and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:2 mins Jo, Julie and Olivia have very different job titles and here they each tell us a bit about their jobs, how their roles are different but also how they work together.4 mins Jo talks about her 20% role (a Google initiative to enable its employees to work on passion products) and how that enables Jo to work on building networks of diverse communities within the communications industry.8 mins There are only 9 people in the UK and Ireland Google comms team.8.30 mins A discussion of how Google uses agency support.“I would be lost without my agency…when you get a good agency you hold onto them with both hands and hope the personnel don’t change too much!”10 mins There are so many specialisms within communications and a brand like Google uses the full breadth of comms capabilities - from crisis communications, to exec comms, to corporate and public affairs, to brand, consumer, product PR and B2B comms.How do in-house communicators coordinate that?13 mins How much of Google's communications are proactive and how much are reactive?“If it’s a big issue it’s all hands on deck”“Some people thrive in a crisis”“We have issues comms at least once a week”“A lot of PR is problem-solving…reactive requires a completely different part of your brain”“Where my agency comes into its own is when they burst by bubble…I spend so much time in Google land.”“My expectation of them (my agency) is 100% all-around creative and strategic ideas”“We might not go 100% of the way but we might go 25% of the way - and that’s us innovating.”“I don’t want to feel like a client all the time…I want to feel like we’re colleagues”25 mins What are the suite of measurement KPIs for Google's comms team?29 mins How does Google get a balance between the standardisation of the message and localised communications?31 mins With Google’s development and rollout of AI tools - is this a priority for Google's comms team at the moment?

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Today we’re chatting with Lucy McGettigan, partner at The Romans. Lucy was the 7th employee at The Romans when she joined Frank in 2017. The Romans has 80 employees, 70 in London and 10 in New York. It had a fee income of £8m globally in 2022 and grew by a remarkable 97% last year.On the show, Lucy is going to talk about the challenges of growing a consultancy business that quickly, the challenges of recruiting talent in public relations and whether process and creativity are a paradox!Don’t forget to purchase your tickets for The PRmoment Awards from the awards site PRmomentAwards.comThanks as ever to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors The PRCA. Here’s a summary of what Lucy and I discussed:2 mins Is The Romans still the Millwall of PR?2.30 mins Lucy updates us on The Romans story specifically the growth the business has had in the last 18 months.3.30 mins Is growth at 97% unsustainable?4 mins Growing a 97% is difficult for any type of business - for a consultancy business where revenue is inextricably linked to the number of employees - recruitment becomes a huge problem doesn't it?6 mins What percentage of new recruits don’t work out?7 mins Has the Mother relationship impacted the speed of growth for The Romans?8 mins Why Mother and The Romans share many clients.9 mins Has the creative work changed as The Romans has grown? Are bigger clients more risk-averse?12 mins The Romans is infamous for not having too many processes - has that has to change as you’ve added scale?14 mins What does lead creative agency actually mean these days? Is there any such thing any more?15 mins Is media relations still the dominant channel for The Romans' work? “If you haven’t got a journalist on WhatsApp they are probably not going to reply to you”16 mins How has Lucy’s job changed since she became a partner last year?17 mins Lucy was the 7th joiner of The Romans - and 4 of those 7 people still work at the firm. I think people will be surprised by that…“When agencies are growing you can find room to keep hold of your best staff”20 mins What is the biggest growth limiter for The Romans at the moment - finding talent or finding clients?21 mins Has The Romans gotten better at keeping hold of its clients in recent years?

This week we are talking creativity with a review of some of the best bits of creativity our panel has seen in the past month or so.On the show today to help us review some of the best creative work are:Kim Allain, creative lead, MSLOttilie Ross, creative director, HalpernJames Gordon-MacIntosh, co-founder and chief creative officer, Hope&GloryThis new regular episode of the PRmoment podcast will feature a rolling panel of PR creatives and in each episode our panellists will choose the favourite creative work they’ve seen recently.This special PRmoment Podcast about creativity is, naturally enough, bought to you in partnership with Creative Moment.Thanks as ever to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors The PRCA. Here’s a summary of what I discussed with Kim, Ottille and James:1.30 mins Kim talks about IKEA’s collaboration with Shelter. Campaign: Temporary RoomsetsClient: IKEA and ShelterAgency: Hope&Glory“A real visual representation of temporary accommodation”“I really like the commitment from Shelter to get 9000 more social homes built by 2030.”9.30 mins Ottille talks us through British bike helmet manufacturer Endura's recent collaboration with The Brain Charity.“It was a really simple campaign, super visual…backed up by research.” Campaign: Project HeidClient: Endura with The Brain Charity 12.30 mins Ottille talks us through the Honest Eggs Co. chickens with a pedometer campaign.Campaign: FitChixClient: Honest Eggs Co.Agency: VMLY&R15.30 mins Google Streetview marks the year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.“You can switch between footage when you watch it so it shows the streets as they were before the invasion and switch to how it looks now” Campaign: The Undeniable Street ViewIn partnership with United 24, Voices of Children and War Up Close.Client: Google Street View19 mins James Gordon-Macintosh talks us through Climate Clubs Sinking Stadia campaign with Copa 90.Campaign: Sinking StadiaClient: Climate Clubs“I feel like the partnership with Copa 90 was a bit mismatched...was there another platform that could have sat on? But the insight was great. ” 21.30 mins James talks about the second campaign he liked this week: A World Without Nature by WWF.“I don’t think anyone has done a creativity session in an agency lately without ‘How shall we use AI’ coming up at some stage or another…there have been some terrible travesties that have come out of the creative industry as a result of that question being answered badly but WWF came up with quite a cute one.”"The work was wonderfully bleak…in a way that was compelling.”

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.On the show today is Jenny Halpern, founder and CEO of Halpern. Today we are talking about PR in the cost of living crisis.Halpern has a fee income of £5m. It's a consumer PR firm based in London. It was founded in 1993 by Jenny. Halpern is owned by The&Partnership, which is part owned by WPP.Jenny sold to business in 2013 to what has become The &Partnership.Clients include The Co-Op, Unilever and Headspace. Don’t forget you can purchase your tickets for The PRmoment Awards here.Thanks as ever to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors The PRCA. Here’s a summary of what Jenny and I discussed:2 mins Jenny gives us a brief insight into Halpern's story.4 mins Jenny’s earn-out is long since finished - she talks about why she hasn’t exited the business.5.30 mins The intersection of publicity, influencer marketing and consumer PR - have they all become the same thing?“Affiliate  marketing has changed the nature of our game (PR) - that is the reason (PR) now sells more.""Consumer PR has become a direct sales channel because of affiliate marketing.”9 mins What is the role of a consumer PR firm in the influencer, influencer agency and brand triangle?11.30 mins How impactful is media coverage on sales, compared to influencer channels?18 mins How is the cost of living crisis impacting the PR and communications of brands?23 mins What did the great resignation look like for PR firms?26 mins What are the most popular training courses Halpern runs for its employees?27 mins Jenny talks about 2 charities she has helped found - the Lady Garden Charity and Access Aspiration.

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Today we’re chatting with Dee Gibbs, founder of Liberty Communications. Liberty is an independent tech PR firm, with a fee income of £1.7 m and this year Liberty celebrates its 25 birthday! So we thought it would be good to get her on the show to chat about 25 years of agency ownership hindsight. Do check out our latest webinar The implications of changing consumer digital behaviours for PR and communications professionals.Thanks as ever to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors The PRCA. Here’s a summary of what Dee and I discussed:2 mins Dee talks about why she decided to set up Liberty 25 years ago.3.30 mins Liberty has a fee income of £1.7 m after 25 years. Does Dee regret not growing the business more?Dee’s 10 lessons of 25 years agency ownership hindsight:5 mins Lesson 1: The pace of technology innovation and what this means for a technology PR business, in terms of the type of work and the client base.8 mins Lesson 2: How CEOs are prioritising PR and how agencies need to demonstrate the benefits of great PR10 mins Lesson 3: The future of the press release13 mins Lesson 4: Hiring talent - making sure the talent matches the ethos of your agency.15 mins Lesson 5: How social media has changed PR skill sets20 mins Lesson 6: Changes in media networking and media relationships21 mins Lesson 7: The rise of social influencers22 minsLesson 8: Don’t lose your nerve!25 mins Lesson 9: Remote working and embracing the way your team want to work.28 mins Lesson 10: Does an PR independent firm needs to re-invent itself over 25 years

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Welcome to our March review of PR Pitches and mergers & acquisitions in the UK PR scene with Andrew Bloch.Andrew is a co-founder and non-executive director at Frank PR and is now lead consultant - PR, Social, Content and Influencer at the new business consultancy firm AAR. He is also a partner at PCB Partners where he advises on buying and selling marketing services agencies.Thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Tickets are now on sale for The PRmoment Awards in London on Thursday 20th April and in Manchester 25th April 2023.2 mins Andrew gives us his PR pitch wins updateNews of wins for The Academy with Peroni and Marie CurrieMaven wins The Perfume shopForster wins Transform (a public/private partnership)Full Fat wins a raft of festival briefPHA win Lucozade, Ribena and OranginaMSL win Renault’s social media brief10 mins Are PR firms winning more social media briefs from their social media agency peers?“PR agency’s should always have an edge when it comes to generating engagement”“There are noticeable differences in the way different (types) of agencies approach it from a strategic perspective”“9/10 the creative I see coming out of PR agencies is right up there with the best in the world, it’s the other elements that sometimes let them down”14 mins Andrew talks about what the future looks like for influencer marketing agencies16 mins Andrew completes his review of this month’s pitch wins Hope&Glory win TrainlineThe Romans win Candy CrushTin Man wins Smart Energy GB18 mins Andrew’s PR M&A updateFinn Partners acquire HyderusJIN buy Opinion ActNews of Martin Loat’s exit from Propeller

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Today we’re chatting with Clarity CEO Sami McCabe. For PR industry observers, Clarity has been an interesting watch over the past few years. It’s had investment from Matthew Freud (which was bound to draw attention), it’s hired some expensive senior talent and it’s acquired 7 or 8 businesses.So today we’re going to talk to Sami about the business, its acquisition and growth strategy and where he sees the future of an earned media consultancy.Clarity is a $20m PR firm with about 200 employees and offices in London, Cornwall, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Amsterdam. It was founded in 2012.Before we start do check out our latest webinar The intersection of PR and SEO 2023.Thanks as ever to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors The PRCA. Here’s a summary of what Sami and I spoke about:2 mins Sami updates us, briefly, about the story of Clarity so far.3 mins Clarity has taken investment from an early stage. Matthew Freud invested in 2019 and institutional investors Thincats in 2022. Sami talks about why investors see PR firms as an attractive proposition.“Not everyone is looking for a Unicorn”6 mins Is Sami surprised more PR firms don't take external investment?“If we were doing this buy-and-build strategy off our balance sheet and with cashflows, it would be a very slow and painful process but capital gives us the ability to go out to the market and acquire businesses much more quickly than would have been able to do otherwise.”“Some deals take 2/3 months, other (deals) are much slower”12 mins Sami identifies his top buyer priorities when Clarity is buying a PR firm.16 mins How do you maximise the chances of success of the integration of 2 agencies“It’s a change management process…we massively over-communicate!”18 mins Sami lists the agencies Clarity has bought over the past few years.21 mins In our pre-show chat, Sami reckoned Clarity will grow at 50% in 2023, so presumably, he intends to continue to go shopping?22 mins Sami on how he intends to build Clarity into a $250 firm in 5 years.“On an annual basis, we are looking to acquire $25m of revenue per year for the next 5 years”24 mins Which vertical sectors are the investment priorities?27 mins Clarity hired quite a few expensive senior people quite earlier in its story - how much of a risk was that and has it paid off?29 mins Why Sami's move to the US, which initially didn’t work out as he had intended, led to the acquisitional strategy of Clarity.

From losing £500K of client fees in 3 weeks in Q2 2020 to selling Taylor Herring to Publicis in April 2021 - we get the inside track on perhaps the most tumultuous couple of years of any agency in recent historyOn the show this week we talk to James Herring about the story of the last few years of Taylor Herring. In Feb 2020 things were looking rosy and James and Cath were no doubt planning their summer vacation in the South of France. Then in 3 weeks, their agency lost £500,000 in monthly fee income.Today we talk to James about the turnaround job which resulted in Publicis buying Taylor Herring in April 2021 and how the agency reported a 40% increase in annual revenue in 2022 (£6.72m, up from £4.9m.) Recent client wins include Nintendo, Natwest, Iceland and McVities. The likes of Samsung, Easyjet and Disney are long-term clients.On the show, today James and I will also talk about where he sees the future of earned media within integrated communications.Thanks as ever to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors The PRCA.2.30 mins This is a story that starts at the beginning of the pandemic. What did the pandemic do to Taylor Herring?"For 6 weeks we spent quite a lot of time scratching our heads thinking about whether there was going to be a business at the end of all of this"4 mins During the worst depts of COVID - how many people were on the team, so those not on furlough?4.30 mins At the start of the pandemic, Taylor Herring lost £500K in monthly fees in 3 weeks. You’d spent nearly 20 years building Taylor Herring and seemed it seemed to be disintegrating before your eyes?8.30 mins Why did the PR market come back much quicker than we all anticipated?"We had a resoundingly good summer probably better than the summer of the year before…it was a boom summer in terms of spend"9.30 mins Did Taylor Herring approach Publicis or did they approach you? "I was mowing the lawn at 5:30 pm on a Friday afternoon and Chris (McCafferty) called"11 mins Why were they interested in a business that had so recently lost so many clients and fee income?12 mins What was the due diligence process like?"There were 2 bits to it, the informal due diligence process…and the harder end of the legal and financial due diligence - it was a full-time job for 8 weeks.""Cath runs an extremely tight ship when it comes to the organisational side of things""The process took about 18 months in all"14.30 mins Since the deal was done Taylor Herring’s fee income has increased by 40% - so the earn-out is going well? "Internally we called it the third runway, it was about putting that infrastructure in ahead of the growth""We've grown from 25 to 55 people over that 2-year period"16.30 mins Is this a rare example of a PR acquisition that has worked?"We've declined more pitches than we ever have before - because when you add up the money spent on those pitches it adds up to hundreds of thousands (of pounds) in terms of the hours""The blending of social and PR and content and brand and events means there is a much bigger playground"19 mins Do Taylor Herring and MSL share many clients?20 mins How does it feel for James not owning his own business anymore?21 mins In our pre-show chat, James said prior to the sale to Publicis he'd "basically run Taylor Herring as a lifestyle business for 19 years” James talks us through what he meant by that.23 mins What is the opportunity for PR-integrated briefs? "Integrated is the single biggest opportunity for a con

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Today we’re chatting with Rachel Allison founder and CEO of Axe & Saw about whether there is a tension between using inclusive communications that are able to reach a diverse audience and the most one size fits all approach in most marketing campaigns. We’ll also talk about what Gen Z and minority groups want and need from their PR employers.Axe & Saw has 10 employees, a fee income of £600K and was founded in March 2021.Thanks as ever to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors The PRCA. Here’s a summary of what Rachel and I discussed:2 mins Is there a tension between inclusive communications and the one size fits all approach used in most marketing campaigns?3 mins Communicators now have a proliferation of channels and multiple customer segments - does that mean multiple and varied bespoke marketing campaigns will become the norm or are scale and consistency still important?“There is a need for both…talk about people on the fringes of your community”6 mins To what extent do we all think and feel differently depending on our ethnicity and background?8 mins How can a better understanding of these differences help brands better plan their communications?9 mins An important part of this change is the need for the communications teams to include a diverse range of communicators. How are we doing?12 mins What does success look like when it comes to the diversity of PR and communications?15 mins What do minority groups need from their employers?“Class can play a huge impact on whether you feel that your voice is heard”23 mins There are plenty of stories of larger agencies hiring aggressively from smaller firms that have a diverse workforce. How much of a problem is that at the moment for smaller independent agency owners?26 mins Rachel’s agency employees work 4 days a week. How does that work? Does Rachel employ 20% more people because the agency works a 4-day week?30 mins What do Gen Z employees want from their employers?

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Welcome to the latest PRmoment Podcast with me Ben Smith. Today we’re catching up with David Hart. David has had over 20 years of experience working in corporate affairs - both in-house at the likes of Coca-Cola and SAB Miller and agency side at Fleishman Hillard and Burson Marsteller (now BCW.)Before Christmas, I saw him posting about the lessons he wished he’d told his younger corporate affairs self and so we invited him onto the show to talk in more detail about his nine lessons of corporate affairs.Before we start do check out our latest free-to-attend webinar The intersection of PR and SEO 2023.Thanks as ever to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors The PRCA. Here is a summary of what David and I discussed:2 mins Why did David decide to write his 9 lessons of corporate affairs?5 mins Lesson 1: Be bold, creative, take risks and help to sell“When done right the power of comms is massive…it surprises me when some organisations don’t want to communicate”8.30 mins Lesson 2: Be confident and bring your sixth sense of “perspective” to a crisis11 mins Lesson 3: Make your job sustainable by understating the detail of ESG14.30 mins Lesson 4: Don't just be a story writer“The worst view of any business is the view from the window of the headquarters”“Don’t just focus on the leaders…everyone within the business has a story to tell”18 mins Lesson 5: Stop the press release21 mins Lesson 6: Be like Jack Reacher - hope for the best; prepare for the worst!“You're going to have a lot of difficult conversations with a lot of senior people”“It’s about making sure the team is prepared (for a crisis)”“There are 2 important pages in any crisis manual…”26 mins Lesson 7: It’s an exciting time to work in Corporate Affairs - enjoy it“I’m convinced more corporate affairs and communications professions… will in the future be CEOs - the ability to talk, the ability to engage, the ability to open and to lead discussions around business-critical issues are vitally important to that (the CEO) role“30 mins Lesson 8:  Give yourself a break“It (the corporate affairs role) can take over your life”33 mins Lesson 9: Embrace change“You want to be ahead of the innovation curve”

 Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast. Welcome to our February review of PR Pitches and mergers & acquisitions in the UK PR scene with Andrew Bloch. Andrew is a co-founder and non-executive director at Frank PR and is now Head of PR at the new business consultancy firm AAR. He is also a partner at PCB Partners where he advises on buying and selling marketing services agencies. Thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here are a few of the highlights that Andrew and I discussed:2 mins News of big wins for Citypress with Siemens, The Romans with Heineken and BCWwith Swissair.“The best corporate agencies think with a consumer lens”PHA bag a couple of wins Andrew talks us through wins for Ranieri and Stir.“It’s a never-ending journey between appointing specialists and consolidating agencies”12 mins Finn Partners win Wagamama’s and Greater Palm Springs.14 mins Good Relations wins the Kuoni account.15 mins Andrew gives us his rundown of this month's PR M&A activity, including the big Markettiers deal.16 mins Andrew explains the Social Chain deal.18 mins Clarity continues its acquisition strategy by purchasing Australian agency Sefiani Communications.20 mins Andrew talks about ANM’s vertical acquisition strategy.21 mins Spider buy a Tiger!

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Today we’re chatting with 3 Monkeys Zeno UK managing director Jo Patterson about the encouraging trend of female leaders occupying more of the big PR agency roles in the UK.When Jo and I talked about this in our pre-show chat it got us thinking and here is a non-exhaustive list of top female PR agency leaders in the UK:We’ve got Jo at 3 Monkeys Zeno, Jo-ann Robertson at Ketchum, Jo Carr at Hope&Glory, Nicola Todd at Ogilvy PR, Pippa Arlow at Smarts, Ruth Kieran at Cirkle, Ruth Allcurch at WE, Sian Morgan at Cow, Sharon Bange at Kindred, Rebecca Grant at BCW, Ali Maynard at Manifest, Cath Taylor at Taylor Herring, Angie Moxham at The Fourth Angel, Kate Stevens at Axicom, Georgina Blizzard and Nicky Regonzonni at The PR Network, Mandy Sharp at Tin Man and Emma Kane at SEC Newgate, Fenella Gray at Porter Novelli and Bibi Hilton at Creative Access.And to be clear there are loads more I could mention - but you get the point. There seem to be more female leaders in top agency positions than there have been in recent memory - perhaps than there has ever been before. And one of the things Jo and I will talk about on the show today is the potential reasons for that.For those of you that are not aware 3 Monkeys Zeno has a fee income of £9m in the UK and 80 employees. Zeno started out as Edelman’s conflict shop but has grown into a global agency with a fee income of about $150 m. About 70% of Zeno’s revenues are in the US.Jo became the UK MD of 3Monkeys Zeno in October 2020. Previously she was UK MD at Porter Novelli and a board director at Red.Zeno bought 3 Monkeys in 2016. I always think of Zeno as a fairly new agency but for any PR agency history buffs out there, it was founded in 1998.Before we start do check out our latest free-to-attend webinar “The State of Social 2023: Channel Disruption, Influencer Growth and The Great Data Integration Challenge.”Thanks as ever to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors The PRCA. Here is a summary of what Jo and I discussed:3 mins Jo talks about why we’re seeing more women PR agency CEOs.“We’re (women) still only tracking at about 40% for leadership roles.”7 mins Jo talks about the benefits of female leadership traits in a progressive working environment.“It’s the people you surround yourself with… charismatic leaders who are prepared to stand up and shape their organisations…and having the freedom to do that.”10 mins We’ve probably seen a rise of misogyny in society. There seems to be an upward trend of obnoxious macho culture.13 mins How do we make sure that in PR we don’t lose those gains that we’ve made?“Greater protection for the challenging life stages that people go through”“Enshrining policies into governance”“Openness and confidence go hand in hand”17 mins Jo talks about the role models that have helped her in her career - Lesley Brend at Red, Fenella Gray at Porter Novelli and Barby Siegel at Zeno.“I like working with good people regardless of gender”20 mins How is the Zeno business doing both globally and in the UK?“About 50% of our work now is global”21 mins In the UK 3 Monkeys was known for its consumer work, how has that evolved since the acquisition?23 mins You are the first leader of the business in London who wasn't part of the original 3 Monkeys team. Has that been an advantage or disadvantage for you do you think?25 mins When an agency like Zeno buys an agency li

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.This is a bonus podcast where we chat about Rajar’s latest results. For those of you that aren’t aware of Rajar - it was established in 1992 and operates the single audience measurement system for the radio industry in the United KingdomEach quarter it publishes the listenership figures for UK radio and this offers a really interesting insight for PR people on how the UK public is engaging with this important channel. On the show today we have Alex Williamson, senior newsroom producer at Markettiers to talk us through the latest Rajar results for Q4 2022Before we start do check out our latest free-to-attend webinar “The State of Social 2023: Channel Disruption, Influencer Growth and The Great Data Integration Challenge.”Before we start, thanks to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.1 min Alex gives us the highlights of this quarter's Rajar results.2 mins 49.7 m people in the UK listen to the radio each week with an average of 20.3 hours per week3 mins The BBC has a 47% share of radio listening, but which BBC stations are on the rise?4 mins How did commercial radio do and which commercial stations are on the rise?5 mins A discussion of the rise of targeted radio channels, including Boom Radio and The Greatest Hits Radio Network.12 mins What are the opportunities for brands on the radio?

On the show this week we talk to Howard Kosky, founder and CEO of Markettiers4DC.Kosky founded Markettiers4DC in 1994. Clients include Rolls-Royce, Linkedin and Unilever. The business employs a team of 150 people in the UK and UAEAs many of our regular podcast listeners may know, last week Waterland Private Equity took a majority stake in Markettiers4DC for a reported amount of £50 million. The business has been well known for its broadcast PR credentials in the UK for decades but it’s grown significantly in the last couple of years - with the growth of its research business Censuswide and its digital production firm Through The I.On the show today we’re going to talk to Howard about the deal and what it means for the future of Markettiers4DC and his role within the business. We’ll also be talking to Andrew Bloch from PCB partners about its role in the deal and how the valuation of Markettiers4DC was made.Do check out our latest free-to-attend webinar “The State of Social 2023: Channel Disruption, Influencer Growth and The Great Data Integration Challenge.”Thanks as ever to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors The PRCA. Here is a summary of what Howard and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:2 mins Howard talks us through why he decided now was the right time to sell.“We were very pleased with everyone’s reaction internally to the shift in behaviour (required) to working remotely…with that productivity increased, broadcast popularity increased, the use of technology in virtual events increased and the use of data increased.”“Rather than sell the business, we looked for an investor, a backer.”“In professional services consultancy businesses, if you can get the people management right, you can flourish”6 mins Why Howard believes the culture of Markettiers4DC is better now than before the pandemic.“It’s not work-life balance, it’s just life. It’s where work sits within the parameter of people’s lives.”7 mins Howard talks us through the shape of the Marketteirs4DC group in terms of the venues and headcount.8 mins The reported deal value is £50 million. Is that what Waterland bought the majority stake in Markettiers4DC for, or does that include their future investments in acquisitions? “They (Waterland) shared our ambition with the desire to create a war chest for us to match our M&A plan and ambition.” 10 mins Is Howard trying to replicate the broad shape of the UK Markettiers4DC business in America?“North America is a huge opportunity for us.”10.30 mins The revenues of the Markettiers4DC group are about £30m and the business has grown by about £10m in revenue (30% or thereabouts) in the last 24 months. That’s going some, how did they do that?13.30 mins Markettiers4DC have been purchased by a private equity group. Did they consider a trade sale?15 mins As a sell-side advisor to the deal, Andrew Bloch from PCB partners talks us through what his role was in helping put the deal together.17 mins The private equity debt market is a tough one at the moment, did that add a layer of complexity to the deal?“We were probably at a stage where we had agreed on the numbers 3 months before…”23 mins When you’re agreeing on the final number, is it basically a game of poker?“Waterland is a buy and build specialist”29 mins Howard talks us through the due diligence process and the psychometric tests!“When these guys come in they put a periscope us every part of y

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Today we’re chatting with Andrea Hartley, founder and CEO of Skating Panda about the role of communications in organisations' approach to ESG.For those of you that are not aware -  ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) is a set of standards measuring a business's impact on society, the environment, and how transparent and accountable its governance is.Skating Panda is a social and environmental impact creative consultancy in LondonDo check out our latest free-to-attend webinar “The State of Social 2023: Channel Disruption, Influencer Growth and The Great Data Integration Challenge.”Thanks as ever to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors The PRCA. Here’s a summary of what Andrea and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed: 2 mins What is the role of communications within the ESG strategy of most organisations?5 mins Thinking about the internal ESG stakeholders within an organisation, how do you see the role of each? Who needs to own ESG within a firm?8 mins Where is the intersection between the financial reporting investor relations part of ESG and the softer communications strategy?8.30 mins How often is the central ESG role of the PR/comms team to simply PR the ESG report?12 mins How PR and comms people can grow their ESG knowledge? Subscribe to PRmoment’s weekly ESG review here.13 mins Is the PR/Comms team best placed to write a company’s ESG Report?14 mins Take a look at some good ESG reports on the ESG Foundation’s website.16 mins Andrea highlights the Global Reporting Initiative and Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) as ESG frameworks for you to look at.18 mins Andrea discusses the difficulties of greenwashing, ethics authenticity in the communications of ESG and purpose.“We have planetary boundaries, there are boundaries to what our planet can do and we’ve got to remember that”23 mins Andrea talks us why are the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals a useful way to understand, formulate and plan an organisation's approach to sustainability and ESG.26 mins Much of the work that PR and marketing people do has the objective of persuading people of the need to buy more stuff. To what extent can the ever-increasing demand-led consumerisation of modern society correlate with the need for us all to consume less?“The risk is to confuse increasing revenue with buying more stuff.”Here is some more information about The ESG Awards.

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Today we’re chatting with the senior team at John Doe:  Pamela Scobbie, managing partner and CCO, Gin Trewhella, partner & group CEO and Lee Beattie Partner/Joint CEO.We cover a few different themes. Wire was merged into John Doe almost 2 years ago to the day - so we’re going to talk about why 2 independent agencies decided to merge and what Pam, Lee and Magin learnt in that process.Also, one of the interesting aspects of John Doe is that 33% of their employees across their Manchester, Glasgow and London offices are people of colour. So we’ll also talk about how the agency had been so successful at building a diverse workforce.The third thing we’ll talk about is the type of work coming out of the agency. In our pre-show chat, I asked CCO Pam Scobbie which agency she wanted to model John Doe on, and her reply was Uncommon. So we’re going to talk about the type of work coming out of the firm.John Doe is a 60-person creative PR firm with 3 offices in the UK. Lee and Pam founded Wire in 2009, which then merged with John Doe 2 years ago. Gin has been at John John Doe for 5 yearsJohn Doe’s clients include Under Armour, Guinness, Captain Morgan, Instagram, Iron Brew and The Scottish Government. It has a fee income of £5.2 which has almost doubled since 2020 - so it is an agency on the rise.Before we start the final entry deadline for the PRmoment Awards is on 27th January - check out PRmomentAwards.com for all the info you need, including downloading this year’s updated entry form.Finally thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Pam, Lee, Gin and I discussed on the show:3 mins The merger between Wire and John Doe was almost 2 years ago. Why did these two independent agencies merge?5 mins Wire was the bigger form so why did they decide to keep the John Doe name?12 mins What was the role of The PRmoment Podcast and Rachel Bell in the Wire/John Doe merger?14 mins How do they merge 2 agency cultures together?18 mins Why recruitment for PR talent is just as tough outside the M25 as it is in London.20 mins 68% of the agency is from a working-class background, 33% of the firm's employees are people of colour, and 50% of the London office are people of colour. All PR firms want to build a diverse team - how come John Doe has been more successful in doing this than most?“We will always prioritise non-white candidates for the first interview”“It (finding non-white talent) gets easier as you go on, it becomes a virtuous circle. People want to work for agencies where it (diversity) is part of the agency’s DNA.”“Diversity is a fundamental decision for agencies, it can’t be an optional extra. We (John Doe) don’t want to pick up a diversity award.”“We did a campaign for Tinder at Pride. Almost the entire team that we put on that brief identified as queer…which means that work was just that much more authentic to the audience.”“We’ve got clients (which) as part of their procurement process ask for statistics on diversity and change payment terms to 1-week payment instead of 2 months based on the relative diversity of your agency against the rest of their roster - that’s a really clear and interesting example of big businesses that are taking diversity seriously”32 mins Are there are a bunch of consumer PR firms in the UK at the moment who are pushing each other hard, resulting in a very competitive, innovative market?“You can see the ad agencies trying to catch up with the channel-agnostic perspective…most of them will still pitch a TV spot because that’s wh

This week on the PRmoment podcast I’m interviewing Greg Jones, European chief executive at Smarts.Smarts has a fee income of approximately £12.5m and employs 150 people. It’s an agency headquartered in Belfast with offices in  London, New York and Edinburgh.   Smarts is owned by MSQ.Greg started his career at Shine, before stints at Slice, M&C Saatchi, Splendid and finally back to Engine joining Mischief as creative director before getting the CEO job in 2019. He left Mischief to join Smarts last November.If you haven’t already make sure you download the PRmoment Awards entry form, the deadline for entering is 27th Jan.2 mins Why did Greg leave Mischief to join Smarts?6 mins How successful have PR firms been building themselves into integrated PR firms?“There are winners and losers, there are those agencies that have grasped the opportunities… and there are those that have been left behind, so much of it comes down to client opportunity.Can you create the opportunity to broaden the type of work that you do for your clients beyond the box that some clients put you into and have you got the people in place to take advantage of those opportunities?”7 mins What do we mean by (integrated) PR today?8 mins The implications of the increased agency services on agency businesses.10 mins What are the expertise areas a modern PR firm needs to have?11 mins Is it better to have social first people or SEO first people working in a PR firm today - or is it better to have PR people who’ve gained experience within these specialisms?“I would rather have experts in the room that I know will be able to answer the questions”“Most agencies will have invested in a head of strategy or a head of creative, that’s almost become a client expectation these days.”13 mins Most of the creative directors in PR have a PR background: “An earned first creative thinker is worth their weight in gold.”“There’s not so much of a leap from being an advertising planner to being a PR planner”16 mins Will community specialists be the next big job title we see emerge from PR firms?17 mins The need for earned first internal comms specialists within PR firms.“Internal comms has been largely overlooked…in terms of growth and futureproofing your agency it’s a great opportunity.”20 mins The difficulty is making it all add up! Is there a fee level you need to get to to be able to bring in these specialists?23 mins PR has been given a huge opportunity, it’s challenge is not to mess it up!24 mins When going into an economic downturn agencies will need to get their attack and defence right: Greg talks us through what his Boxing analogy means in practice for PR agency owners.25 mins How do integrate your offer? “It tends to get brought together by client opportunity.”26 mins A discussion of the investment PR firms need to make in technology tools: As PR has broadened its offer across more channels, so has the need to purchase channel-specific analytics tools.

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Welcome to our January review of  PR Pitches and mergers & acquisitions in the UK PR scene with Andrew Bloch.Andrew is a co-founder and non-executive director at Frank PR and is now Head of PR at the new business consultancy firm AAR. He is also a partner at PCB Partners where he advises on buying and selling marketing services agencies.Before we start the final entry deadline for the PRmoment Awards is on 27th January - check out PRmomentAwards.com for all the info you need, including downloading this year’s updated entry form.Finally thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Andrew and PRmoment podcast host Ben Smith discussed on the show:2 mins Andrew gives us his rundown of this month's biggest pitch wins in UK PR, including:Premier PR and the Booker PrizeOrganic and The Apprentice (with a shout-out to Taylor Herring’s long-term work with the Apprentice.)Splendid and Flock win the Ginster's briefMHP and The Royal Mint (again with a shout-out to Hope&Glory’s work on the account over the last 10 years)H&K Strategies and Hills Pet NutritionCapture PR win Gala and Foxy Bingo Praytell and Sonus“The average decision-making period for a decent size pitch is about 6 months.”“A real lesson for me was that…the period between the pitch and the decision is so critical - show your hunger and determination.”“It was a 30 agency pitch…that is a huge amount of agencies. You have to be respectful of the agencies' time… it's all about the size of the prize at the end.”“Making sure the (pitch) process is fit for purpose, respectful and informed”12 mins A discussion about whether the of trend clients consolidating the number of agencies they use will continue.13 mins Pitch wise “this is the busiest January I can ever remember.”  Andrew talks us through why there is so much new business activity in the PR market at the moment.15 mins A discussion about the Tulchan Teneo deal - which saw Teneo acquire UK financial PR specialist Tulchan in a reported £65m deal.“Teneo gives Tulchan an international footprint.”16 mins Andrew talks us through how the Tulchan deal is likely to be structured and how the ratio of profit to revenue is important in a valuation of a business.“Tulchan is obviously a very, very well-run company.”“We’re seeing consolidation, the importance of scale and building a global footprint”“The right time to sell is not when you’ve reached your peak, it’s when you feel you’ve got great growth.”21 mins We chat about Penta’s acquisition of Dublin-based corporate PR firm Hume Brophy.“For Penta, this deal gives them global reach”24 mins Andrew predicts that 2023 could have a lot of trade deals in the M&A space.“There are a lot of big trade organisations and holding groups which are sitting on piles of cash and they need to spend it…to keep their share prices high (acquisitions will bring them growth.)”

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.This week we’re talking to George Hutchinson founder of River Effra Communications about the expanding area of risk methodology in crisis communication.It’s an interesting area which takes another perspective on PR’s increasingly complex intersection with data.The central concept is to use risk methodology to model and understand the reputational consequences for an organisation if it behaves in a particular way.George set up River Effra earlier this year, previously he had senior roles at Teneo and BCW.Before we start the PRmoment Awards 2023 are open for entries - do check out the awards site PRmomentAwards.comThanks to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here is a summary of what George and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed on the show:2 mins George talks us through the use of risk methodologies in crisis communications.“The time has come for increased use of risk methodologies in crisis communications…to help potentially avoid the crisis in the first place.”4 mins What are risk methodologies and how do you use them in crisis communications?“Reputational risks are always secondary, they don’t come from no-where”7 mins So is this approach about putting a “threat” cost on reputations by modelling various crisis communication scenarios?“The idea that your corporate affairs director can somehow relationship your way out of a crisis just doesn’t work”10 mins George suggests that communication and reputation crises are actually pretty predictable - Black Swan crises are rare.12.30 mins What are the riskiest areas of crisis currently?16 mins How cyber security crisis can become business critical.17 mins Are poor CEO behaviour the most common reputation crisis for most large organisations?“There are businesses that I have advised where the CEO has had to go…you can’t treat your leadership team differently from the rest of the organisation”19.30 mins What are the short, medium and long-term implications of a reputational crisis?22 mins What are the impacts of a reputational crisis on the different stakeholders? From the leadership, to employees, to customers…“In a crisis, initially you feel under attack, which can lead to persecution bias…and you can only deal with a crisis if you’ve accepted the problem.”“Your employees can feel disillusioned by the corporate’s response”24 mins How quickly do customers desert an organisation over a reputational crisis?26 mins What does the CEO want from their communications leader in a crisis?28 mins What is the most common mistake people make in a corporate crisis?“You see a lot of leaders do flight to fight”

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.This week we’re chatting with Zoe Ward Waring from Sunny Side Up and John Higginson from Higginson Strategy about how and why their respective organisations have become a BCorp.On the show, we talk about what being a BCorp is all about and what the process to becoming BCorp looks like.To put the discussion into some context in the UK there are 1375 BCorp organisations, in the US there are 2226 and globally there are 5711. So it’s predominantly a UK and US scheme.21 UK PR agencies are a BCorp including Freud's, Third City, Don't Cry Wolf, Sunny Side Up, Higginson Strategy, Milk & Honey and Kindred.Being a BCorp is about transparency and if you are interested you can view any organisation’s BCorp results on the BCorp website.There is also a useful How to become a BCorp handbook that you can buy. The PRmoment Awards 2023 are now open for entries - do check out the awards site PRmomentAwards.com - there are lots of new categories this year and an updated entry form with added criteria. Thanks to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Zoe, John and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discuss:2 mins For anyone out there who is not aware of the BCorp scheme - Zoe and John explain what it is all about.4 mins Why are organisations becoming BCorps?7 mins How difficult is it to become a BCorp?“Anyone can go on (the BCorp website) and begin to self-assess”“Once you go through the process you get an assessment report”“There are 5 sections: Governance, workers, community, environment and customers”“It’s really important to get the whole business behind it.16 mins John talks to us about the process to become a BCorp. 18 mins How long does it take?“I’d say (the application process) took about 100 hours”20 mins Is the PRCA’s Consultancy Management Standard a useful starting point for a BCorp application?20.30 mins How much does it cost to become a BCorp?

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Today we’re reviewing the biggest PR disasters of 2022 with crisis communication consultant Amanda Coleman. Just to confirm we’re talking today about events and disasters where communications played a key role, we’re not suggesting all of these examples are crises driven by poor PR - although in a number of the cases we talk about on this show a poor communications strategy made a bad situation worse!Amanda is the author of the excellent book Crisis Communication Strategies which looks at how brands can prepare, control and recover from any kind of crisis.Before we start the PRmoment Awards 2023 final entry deadline is on 27th January, check out the awards site PRmomentAwards.com for all the details.Thanks to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Amanda and PRmoment Ben Smith founder spoke about:2.30 mins January: Bad weather got the UK off to a bad start!4 mins February saw the start of the war in Ukraine - Putin’s murderous slaughter of the Ukrainian people has been well documented but as ever, sadly, communications have played an important part in the war - both for government communicators and brand communicators.5.30 mins A discussion of the multiple stakeholders President Zelensky has needed to communicate with during the war in Ukraine.9 mins March saw the beginning of the Johnny Depp: Amber Heard legal case.10 mins A chat about the infamous Will Smith Slap of Chris Rock.11 mins April: A Kinder Egg product recall because of a salmonella outbreak, just a couple of weeks before Easter!13 mins May: The Uvalde Texas shooting: an unimaginable act of evil and Amanda talks us through some of the communication responses of the police that could have been improved.15 mins The Wagatha Christie trial began. The result came in October but while “there were no winners but there was definitely a loser.”18 mins June: The Afghanistan earthquake with a 5.9 magnitude caused terrible destruction. Amanda talks about the “almost paralysed response of the West to a humanitarian disaster.”20 mins The UK Summer and some extreme heat.22 mins Boris finally went - the culmination of many months of one of the worst reputational scandals the UK has ever seen.23 mins Sept: Did Liz Truss’s incompetence unwittingly rescue Boris’s reputation?26 mins The Mini Budget: Is Kwasi Kwarteng that dangerous mix of being both arrogant and wrong?27 mins How the Monkeypox outbreak benefitted from the communications lessons learnt during Covid.28 mins The death of Her Majesty The Queen: An event long prepared for but that still took many people by surprise.29.30 mins October Sunak takes over and he’s brought stability - “which was about all he was going to be able to do given the difficulty of the brief.”31 mins November The cost of living crisis had been building since the summer but in November it came home.32 mins How the increase in costs has shocked society.33 mins The challenge of the energy providers: Will they lose consumer confidence when their financial results report huge profits?“It feels like it’s building to something”35 mins China Covid Protests: In unexpected news President Xi bows to public opinion!36 mins December: A month like no other when it comes to Industrial action in the UK

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Welcome to our final PR Pitches and merger & acquisition trends in the UK PR scene with Andrew Bloch.Andrew is a co-founder and non-executive director at Frank PR and is now head of PR at the new business consultancy firm AAR. He is also a partner at PCB Partners where he advises on buying and selling marketing services agencies.Before we start the final entry deadline for the PRmoment Awards is on 27th January - check out PRmomentAwards.com for all the info you need.Finally thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Andrew and PRmoment podcast host Ben Smith discussed on the show:1.30 mins Andrew gives us news of a couple of tourist board wins for Lotus and PRM Global.3 mins News of a big win for Smoking Gun PR.4 mins Andrew brings news of The Academy’s Decathlon win.5 mins Another win for Frank PR with Meridian Foods5.30 mins Brands2Life win Vitality Insurance’s consumer brief.6 mins Axicom win Sage’s multi-territory brief.7 mins Andrew talks us through the M&A trends in the PR sector.“The main challenge at the moment is debt financing”“It's a positive (market) for trade deals”10 mins News of British Growth Fund’s investment in Komi.11 mins Born Social is acquired by Crowd.15 mins SEC buys a Mexican agency to build its South American offer.18 mins Tyto has bought Cuban Eight19 mins Media Zoo has been on the acquisition trail again.20 mins News of acquisitions for 4 Media Group and Jargon Group.

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Today we’re chatting with Shayoni Lynn, chief executive officer at Lynn Group about behavioural science theory and the implications of the application of behavioural in PR and communications.Shayoni previously worked as a journalist and then in the in-house team of Cardiff University before launching Lynn Group in 2019.Lynn has a turnover of £2.6m and 30 employees.Before we start the PRmoment Awards 2023 are now open for entries - do check out the awards site PRmomentAwards.com. We’ve amassed a stellar line-up of judges this year - including 75 senior in-house communicators, who are amongst the most important buyers of public relations services in the UK.Also, thanks to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here is a summary of what Shayoni and Ben Smith founder discussed:2 mins Shayoni gives us an intro to the basics of behavioural science theory.“Behavior is an outcome, science is a process”“Behavioral science helps unlock why people do what they do”“There are lots of drivers for behaviour - psychological drivers, sociological environmental drivers…”4.30 mins Is there an accepted theory of behavioural science?6 mins Do different people react to behavioural science-based messages in a uniform way?8 mins What are the implications of behavioural science theory on PR and communications?9.30 mins Hasn’t PR always been about behaviour change?“We have introduced a scientific approach to communications”12 mins Would a better understanding of behavioural science change most PR and marketing campaigns?14 mins Which area of marketing is the use of behavioural most widely applied?16.30 mins How did Shayoni learn about behavioural science theory?22.30 mins Is the tragic reality that the misinformation campaigns that we’ve seen over the last few years - such as Brexit, Trumpism, and Putin’s various attempts at propaganda, particularly inside Russia  - are using advanced behavioural science techniques more effectively than anyone else?“Disinformation actors are very organised and sophisticated in their understanding of human behaviour and they are using behavioural science and psychological tactics really effectively and they are weaponising it to radicalise communities.”25.30 mins Are social media algorithms in essence a misinformation campaign?“The question is how do we get to the disinformation before the misinformation journey starts”30 mins What behavioural science resources are out there for communications people listeners to read/watch/listen to?

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Today we’re reviewing 2022 from the perspective of a PR agency with Warren Johnson, founder of W Communications. W has a fee income of £13m, offices in London New York and Singapore, Edinburgh, Kuala Lumpa, Los Angeles. It employs approximately 160 people globally and 126 in London. If Year in Review Podcasts are your type of thing then do have a listen to our Year in Communications show with Charlotte West, executive director of global corporate communications at Lenovo.Before we start the PRmoment Awards 2023 early entry deadline is on 16th December, check out the awards site PRmomentAwards.com for all the details. If you miss the early deadline the final deadline for The PRmoment Awards is January 27th. Thanks to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Warren and I discussed:2 mins Despite what’s been a pretty tough year for most - PR firms had a pretty decent 2022 didn’t they?3 mins Have there “H1 and H2 felt quite different!”“(In H1) there were quite a few spurious pitches, second half we’ve opted not to pitch”“I’m a cheerleader for the industry. There are some really smart people who work really hard (in PR)...and I don’t think you can say that about some of the adjacent marketing services industries.”5 mins Has PR's moment arrived?“Advertising is pretty shit now”“Best idea wins. That suits everyone, including most importantly the client.”“Taylor Herring’s Peter Crouch campaign was a content piece that just got bigger and bigger”8 mins Has the dial moved in PR’s market share of the CMO's budget?9 mins Warren talks us through the different phases of 2022 for PR agencies“At the beginning of the year there were lots of pitches and not many of them went anywhere.”“Q1 next year could be quite challenging…but hopefully a rosy summer!”“It looks like the government’s done a half-decent job in terms of controlling inflation”11 mins When will the agency financial map of 2023 start to unfold - when do you know when it’s going to be a good one or a bad one?12.30 mins Are PR firms increasingly starting to compete against in-house teams?13.30 mins How hot is the PR labour market at the moment?“There was clearly a moment of madness where we had some average people being hocked around the industry by recruiters…I’m sure we all made some bad hires at that point out of desperation. I think now things have settled down. It feels like there is equilibrium.”“There has been some mega wage inflation…we’ve now had time to calibrate that.”“Our wage bill is £500-600K a month, if that jumps 20% - no more Christmas party!”“We’ve had to have some difficult conversations with clients”21 mins How is the cost of living crisis impacting PR employees?22 mins Warren on Frankie Cory: “We’ve admired each other from afar.”“I saw her as a kindred spirit…who will hustle as hard as I will”Ben Smith: “So it’s tag team to grow W?”Warren Johnson: “Yes” 26 mins Are the independents still having a good time or are the holding groups biting back?“We are taking money off the holding group but not often the PR division”

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Today we’re reviewing 2022: The Year in Communications with Charlotte West, executive director of global corporate communications at Lenovo.Charlotte and PRmoment founder Ben Smith talk through the biggest events in PR and communications through 2022.Before we start the PRmoment Awards 2023 early entry deadline is on 16th December, check out the awards site PRmomentAwards.com for all the details. The final entry deadline is 27th January.Thanks to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Charlotte and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:1.30 mins January started with us all looking forward to 10 good years of economic growth as the economy roared out of the Covid lockdowns…3 mins Did the tech sector, and Meta’s stock value loss of 26% in one day, give us a clue, even before the war started, that all was not looking quite as rosy as many of us had hoped?6 mins Then February bought the war in Ukraine with Putin’s unprovoked, brutal attack on the people of Ukraine. The war has been a travesty for the innocent men, women and children of Ukraine.The actions of Putin’s murderous regime have been well covered in the media and Charlotte give’s us a corporate communications perspective. What steps did communication directors of big global organisations need to take as a result of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine?10 mins How the war in Ukraine changed the lens of all 2022 communication plans12 mins Quite rightly the war in Ukraine dominated much of the new agenda for the rest of the year but thinking back to April and May - what else was on the agenda for in-house communicators?13 mins The role of internal communications in developing post COVID working patterns“Employees just wanted clarity”14 mins And then in the summer, The UK’s politics got even more bonkers! Charlotte talks about the implications of this for in-house communicators at the time.“It was like a soap opera playing out in real life…as comms leaders that becomes a huge distraction.”“People became fed up with the news”18 mins How did the chaos in UK politics change the decision making criteria for communication directors during that period?19 mins September saw the death of her Majesty The Queen - which was a difficult balance for lots of brands in how to communicate during the period of mourning.22.30 October brought talk of the coming recession - and again comms leaders had to adapt their communications.24 mins Charlotte talks us through the Just Stop Oil climate change protests and their implications for communicators.“Who’s next after the fossil fuel companies?”27 mins Was November was the month of the celebrity CEO or the psychopath CEO?“About 18 months ago a celebrity CEO was a good thing, it isn’t anymore!” Ben SmithIn the tech sector, some companies have become their leader, and that’s dangerous for many reasons…it’s an issue of good governance for a company.”“The tech sector has been able to get away with a lot because it's interesting and exciting but regulation is coming….the organisations have to show good governance.”30 mins Charlotte and Ben discuss the Elizabeth Holmes Theranos scandal - including whether she was treated differently because she was a woman - there are a lot of rogue male CEOs who did not end up in jail.32.30 mins Was Cop 27 a bit of a damp squib?“Every opportunity is not a PR moment - a better approach is to do it for wider good”34 mins The comms issues of The World Cup: a global event with differing perspectives 36 mins Charlotte’s end-of-year reflecti

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Today we’re talking about career learning and professional development in PR. We’re going to chat about the differences between career education and career training. We’ll discuss why PR (in the UK at least) seems to value PR experience over education  - and ask whether this is a problem.We’ll also talk about the available courses for PR and comms professionals that do want to do more to educate themselves about communications theory and practice.A theme of this podcast is that if you work in PR and communications - an understanding of the different communications theories is probably only going to make you better at your job, so it’s surprising that more people don’t take part in these courses.To be clear, this is not going to be a podcast suggesting that PR is/isn’t a profession and we won’t try and suggest that to work in PR you must be professionally qualified - frankly, that’s a debate here at PRmoment towers we are less sympathetic with but it’s definitely one for another day! This podcast is about why more PR people don’t want to educate themselves about the wide body of public relations, communications and marketing academic theory and best practice.On the show to discuss this are Tasos Theofilou, principal academic in Public Relations at Bournemouth University and Dr Heather Yaxley, Qualified educator/examiner CIPR PR Dip, Public Affairs & Digital Comms Specialist Diplomas.The topic for this podcast is a bit of a follow-up from a previous podcast we did on “What happened to PR degrees?”Before we start the PRmoment Awards 2023 are now open for entries - do check out the awards site PRmomentAwards.com for all the info you need.Thanks to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here is a summary of what Heather, Tasos and the PRmoment founder Ben Smith spoke about on the show.3 mins A discussion about what is the best way to be an outstanding PR and communications professional - through experience or through education?“Education is like rocket fuel (for your career) it can enhance and accelerate your abilities but it also adds a level - the ability to answer the question why not just what you to.”“Education gives you a different mindset”4.30 What is the difference between in-career PR training and in-career PR education? 5.30 mins Why don’t more people take the time in their careers to study PR and comms theory as part of their professional development?9 mins What types of courses are available for in-career education? A summary of the PRCA, CIPR and other in-career PR education courses that are available.11 mins An explanation ofWhat is a post-graduate qualificationThe CIPR/PRCA foundation courseThe CIPR/PRCA advanced certificateThe CIPR/PRCA diplomasThe CIPR Chartered qualification16 mins A discussion of the low numbers of people currently taking a PR in career qualification: About 350 people took part in the PR advanced certificates and PR diplomas compared to 12,500 people who are “currently studying” CIM qualifications.“It’s become expected that if you work in marketing you study the CIM qualifications.”20.30 mins Are the in-career PR education courses currently available any good?21 mins A discussion about why there are so few people taking in-career education courses in PR. Do people not know about them? Do they not have time to study? Are they too expensive? Do they not believe that PR academic

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.This week we’re chatting to Heather Kernahan, global chief executive officer of, Hotwire about her career story. Hotwire has 500 employees globally and about 90 in London.  It has offices in 11 countries.Heather joined Hotwire when it acquired Eastwick in 2016. She became CEO in 2021 following Barbara Bates’ move to the holding company Enero. Before joining Eastwick Heather had a senior comms role at Autodesk in the US.Hotwire was founded in 2000 and was acquired by Enero in 2007. It has recently been on something of an acquisition trail: purchasing 3 B2B sales and marketing firms in the last 18 months or so: McDonald Butler Associates in the UK, BGetIT in Asia and San Francisco-based ROI DNA.Before we start the PRmoment Awards 2023 are now open for entries - do check out the awards site PRmomentAwards.com, including a bunch of new categories and make sure you download the new entry form because there are a number of changes to that for 2023.Thanks to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Heather welcome to the show2 mins As the CEO of arguably the world’s largest Tech PR firm - Heather talks us through the state of the technology PR economy currently“We see the pipeline is still strong…but people are looking cautiously at the investments for next year (2023)”“There are different segments of tech, there are resilient segments of tech.”6 mins Heather talks us through the state of the US PR market at the moment. Is the upward trend of communications the same in the US as it is in the UK?“We’re not going to see PR and comms backtrack out of the board room…executives need us”8 mins Are Hotwire making more acquisitions than other PR and communications firms of its size?8.30 mins Why has Hotwire bought 3 B2B marketing firms in the last 18 months?9.30 mins Does Hotwire still see itself as a PR and communications firm?10 mins Will Hotwire will be the last UK-founded PR firm to have a global presence?12 mins Why did Heather study for an MBA and how has her career benefitted from it? What did studying for an MBA involve and how long did it take?16 mins Why Heather decided to study Sustainable Enterprise for her MBA“I use my MBA every single day for my job.”“You're being trained to be a chief executive, so you better think at that level”20 mins How much does it cost to do an MBA?21 mins PR is a lot more business orientated than it was 20 years ago but we’ve got a long way to go, we must keep pushing.“Agency versus In-house is breadth versus depth”22 mins Heather talks us through how she went from an employee of the acquired business (Eastwick) to becoming CEO of the acquiring business Hotwire.26 mins What are a tech PR firm's biggest challenges at the moment?28 mins How big does Hotwire want to get? Does the business look at Edelman and say that’s where we want to get to?30 mins Heather credits Canadian paternity leave laws for enabling her family the flexibility which resulted in her husband staying at home to look after the children while Heather concentrated on her career.“He’s raised the kids…It’s really important to have an open conversation with your partner as your thinking about your careers - what’s this going to look like for us over time as we both add more responsibilities at home but also have aspirations at work.”“Canada is progressive in their parental policies, so that gave us options”31 mins Heather talks us through her 3 months in London - giving her perspectives as an outsider on the political changes over the past few months and the London PR scene!

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Today we’re chatting to Mark Borkowski about some of the biggest stories in the media recently.For those who don’t know, Mark’s had a stellar PR career, starting as a publicist in the theatre and running Borkowski PR for something like 32 years.Before we start the PRmoment Awards 2023 early entry deadline is on 16th December, check out the awards site PRmomentAwards.com for all the details.Thanks to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Mark and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:1.30 mins Mark laments the lack of curiosity in the news cycle currently.2.30 mins Mark discusses what will happen to PR and to journalism if Twitter fails.“We are getting a sense of just how important Twitter is to PR and the media”7 mins  Does Mark look at the Elon Musk publicity machine in awe?“Every generation throws up one enormous personality who is bigger than the media that wants to bring him down!”“Certain people have that ‘stuff’ - the power to understand who his key audience is…and understand how to make money”9.30 mins What has Mark made of Matt Hancock’s latest reinvention attempt on I’m A Celebrity? “The winners out of this are ITV…this is a man in search of a career…he knows his political career is over”“The power of these programmes is in the (social media) edit”“The people who come out of I’m a Celeb well are usually comedians or much younger people, more telegenic individuals, who have line and length”“The audience hasn’t changed their minds about him…he’ll be a low-rate Micheal Portillo. There’s always Panto!”13 mins Mark gives his perspective about David Beckham and Qatar - has the shine come off Golden Balls?17 mins Is Joe Lycett better at PR than he is at comedy?“It was so authentic, it was so well thought through…it captured the media for a good 10-day period”19 mins Does Mark think that every creative media stunt idea has now been done to death?“The news agenda and societal and cultural changes refresh the ideas of what a stunt might look like in a specific age. The motivations never change…but it’s the cultural context and where society is both politically and socially that can drive the success of a stunt.”

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.This week we’re chatting to Rick Guttridge, founder of Smoking Gun about his career story in public relations and how he went from a procurement officer for the Royal Mail to PR agency CEO.Smoking Gun is a £1.5 m PR firm based in Manchester, clients include Interflora, the NHS and Alton Towers. It has 15 employees.Previously Rick worked for Brazen and Connectpoint PR. He and his wife Vanessa founded Smoking Gun in 2010.Smoking Gun has had an interesting few years, it was impacted by both Brexit and Covid and Ricks going to talk us through that agency journey on the show today.And do check out the home page of PRmoment for our latest webinars, including The State of Social Media Report.Finally, thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Rick, welcome to the show:1 min Rick talks us through what has been an up-and-down-and-up couple of years for Smoking Gun through Brexit and the Covid period was for an independent.“We’re living in a world of constant turmoil…you need medication after watching the nightly news”“Having to let good people go is the hardest part of the job”“Feb 2020 was our biggest ever month…and then Covid came along”“How long will the cash last - there’s a horizon here for when the business will fold”12 mins Did the PR business come back slower in Manchester than in London? 13 mins What’ shape of the business now?“Sometimes everything goes against you, sometimes everything goes for you”14 mins Rick updates us on the runners and riders in the Manchester PR scene17 mins How the last 10 years has seen a changing of the guard of the biggest PR agencies in Manchester.“I reckon there’s about a third of the number of staff journalists around that there were when I started 20 years ago”21 mins Rick talks us through how he made the jump from procurement to PR!28 mins A discussion of whether too many in-house PRs still see PR as a media relations-only discipline.“The bigger the organisation the more segregation there is. We really need to break down those internal silos”30 mins Rick talks about an increasing trend of big pitches wanting to include a number of non-London-based agencies.

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.This week we’re chatting to Victoria Dean, chief executive officer of Portland about her career story. Portland has 350 employees globally and 270 in London.It has offices in Brussels, Paris, Berlin, Washington, Nairobi, Singapore, Doha and London.Victoria’s career has been a fascinating journey - she has spent the majority of her career working for The British and Commonwealth Foreign Office, in various non-communications roles including head of the political team at the British Embassy, Washington, the British High Commissioner of Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean and the head of strategic finance.She was also the global head of public policy at Google before taking up the global CEO role at Portland earlier this year.On the show today we’re going to talk to Victoria about her time at The British and Commonwealth Foreign Office and Google, she’ll be talking to us about what a modern public policy role looks like and how it overlaps with the world of public relations and communications.Victoria will also no doubt tell us why she left what I would say is one of the top 5 public policy roles globally to return to Portland earlier this year.Before we start the PRmoment Awards 2023 are now open for entries - do check out the awards site PRmomentAwards.comThanks to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Victoria and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:2.30 mins Victoria worked in The Foreign and Commonwealth Office for the British Government for 16 years - what are the good and bad things about working for the government?“When there’s less money about you have to be more thoughtful about recognition”“The other big thing about working for the government is - Politics… You have to be aware of that and be apolitical”“The very best secretary of state I worked for was William Hague”7 mins Is there a sweet spot about how long a secretary of state should serve?8.30 mins Victoria has had multiple roles in The Foreign and Commonwealth Office - what were her favourites and how did these prepare her for a second career in communications and public relations?“Diplomacy is PR”9.30 mins Victoria’s first comms role was as the UK Government’s spokesperson for Europe in Brussels for the Blair government.13 mins Victoria talks about her time as the High Commissioner of Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean.15 mins Victoria left her role as the  High Commissioner of Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean because she had lots of experience in Brussels and the UK government was in a panic as a result of the Brexit referendum - she was the 3rd employee of the Department for Exiting the European Union“For the first time in my career, the advise I was giving was unwanted and not really listened to”“In papers, I wrote in those early days ‘the situation with Northern Island will be very difficult and here we are 7 years later”19 mins Victoria reveals the reason she left the Foreign Office was that she feared the UK would make a mess of Brexit.19.30 mins Victoria talks about her first stint at Portland - learning the ropes of agency life.20 mins Victoria talks about her time as global head of public policy at Google.“The reality is there is no business operating anywhere in the world that isn’t increasingly affected impacted by government, politics, regulation (or) legislation.”“How we, collectively, regulate the internet is one of the biggest questions of our time"

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Here’s the latest of our bonus pod series where I chat to Andrew Bloch about PR Pitches and merger & acquisition trends in the UK PR scene.Andrew is a co-founder and non-executive director at Frank PR and is now Head of PR at the new business consultancy firm AAR. He is also a partner at PCB Partners where he advises on buying and selling marketing services agencies.Before we start the PRmoment Awards 2023 are now open for entries - do check out the awards site PRmomentAwards.com for all the info you need.Finally thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Andrew and I discussed:2 mins Andrew gives us his PR pitch wins update with wins for Ketchum, Tin Man, Splendid, Ready 10, Coolr, Four, Talker Taylor, Good Relations, PHA, and Tigerbond.5 mins Andrew gives his suggestions on how many agencies in-house teams should include in a pitch.11 mins “The M&A market is volatile at the moment but there are still deals being done”“Debt is difficult to raise (in the private equity market) due to interest rate rises and this means people are being cautious and that is scuppering some deals and some are taking longer”“On the trade side (of M&A activity) the trend of building deep specialisms is continuing”12 mins M&A updates include news from Prime Global’s acquisition of Earthwear and RSK’s acquisition of Copper13 mins Andrew updates us on a couple of PR MBOs at Rise at Seven and BECG14 mins A discussion of Carrie Rose and Stephen Kenwright’s story of growth at Rise at Seven and how it’s come to an end.16 mins Andrew talks about Lord Suger and Mark Wright’s sale of Clime Online for an amount reputed to be around £10 m17 mins News of Clarity’s acquisition of Political Intelligence18 mins A wrap-up of why Next Fifteen’s acquisition of M&C Saatchi failed

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Today we’re talking about PR degrees - or rather the lack of them! To confirm there are still a number of excellent PR degree courses available but there are far fewer PR undergraduate places in the UK than there were 10 years ago.On the show this week we look into the reasons behind this, asking whether it is a UK-centric trend and whether it’s a decline that can be reversed.Over the past 5-10 years we’ve seen a massive reduction in the number of undergraduate PR degree places available and as a result, this has seen a big reduction in the number of PR degree graduates coming into PR.Before we start - just to flag, no one is suggesting that PR degrees should be the only way into PR - that would be ridiculous - but today we’re going to look into the reasons why PR degrees in the UK are less popular than they were and whether this is a trend that can be turned around.Without pointing out the obvious, while PR degrees have become less popular, PR has grown significantly in the last 5-10 years and this has led to a significant increase in demand in the PR labour market.This increased demand for PR talent has outstripped supply, leading to a shortage of talent being the number one growth limiting factor for most PR firms and in-house teams.On the show to discuss this are Tasos Theofilou, principal academic in Public Relations at Bournemouth University, Dr Martina Topic, course leader, Public Relations with Journalism at Leeds Beckett University and Dr Sarah Bowman, senior lecturer, Organisational Communications at Northumbria UniversityBefore we start the PRmoment Awards 2023 are now open for entries - do check out the awards site PRmomentAwards.com for all the info you need.Thanks to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Tasos, Sarah, Martina and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed.3 mins Is it right to say that there are fewer PR degrees in the UK now than at any point in the last 15 years?“There are not many pure PR degrees around anymore but there are 232 courses from 59 Universities which have “PR” in the title.”4 mins What are the reasons behind the decreasing number of pure PR undergraduate courses?“I blame the increasing fees for the decrease in PR degrees”5 mins Many PR students didn’t really know what PR was… that lack of awareness has become more of a problem now students have to pay for their course.6 mins “Schools are the ones that don’t recognise PR…our employment rates are nearly 100% but you can’t study (a subject) that you don’t know is there.”10 mins For the merged degrees - what is the ratio between PR and the other elements of the course?12 mins Did UK PR try and kill the PR degree?“We experience a love and hate relationship with the (PR) industry sometimes”“In every field, you have people who have very strong opinions and they shout the loudest! But I wouldn't say the majority of the industry is against (PR) education, I don't think that’s true ”“One thing that is missing from the industry is engagement with events for young people to come and learn - that is what PRSA in America is doing well.”

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.This week we’re chatting about the role of modern corporate affairs with Sian O'Keefe, vice president of corporate affairs, Mars Wrigley Europe, Central Eurasia, Belarus & Turkey.It’s a corporate affairs special this week and Sian and I talked about the increased breadth and importance of the corporate affairs role within large businesses.We’ll discuss the reasons behind this change, where the most important intersections are within a business for a corporate affairs leader and how ESG and a rapidly changing stakeholder environment have increased the demands on most corporate affairs teams.Before we start the PRmoment Awards 2023 are now open for entries - do check out the awards site PRmomentAwards.comThanks to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Sian and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:1.30 mins Sian talks us through what she sees as the role of modern corporate affairs.“The role of corporate affairs has changed…our stakeholders expect us to communicate regularly and they want to engage with us regularly…through a variety of different channels and media.”“Our job is about accessing the external landscape”4.30 mins What are the key responsibilities of a corporate affairs leader?2 mins How much has corporate affairs changed in the last few years?6.30mins How often does the corporate affairs team need to interact with the CEO and on what type of issues?7 mins What are the other key connections within a business for the corporate affairs director?“Spot the opportunities to tell our stories”“People come up with a lot of great ideas but time and resources are not infinite”10 mins How has the increased importance of ESG changed the priorities of the corporate affairs role?“Mars’ corporate purpose: The world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today”12 mins Sian gives us an insight into how Mars has tried to bring a purpose to chewing gum because it's not the most obvious purpose-lead product.“The public look to organisations to have a purpose and play a positive role…it can get quite complicated if every brand has a purpose”15.30 mins What range of skills do you need in a modern corporate affairs department?“The critical skills in being successful in corporate affairs are adaptability, resilience, innate curiosity…and business acumen.”16 mins What does the average day in corporate affairs look like, how do you bring a process to the role?17.30 mins What does a corporate affairs leader want from their agency?19 mins A discussion about whether the central reason public relations has grown so much over the past 10 years is that stakeholder engagement has become more important.20.30 mins Do organisations have a choice about whether they will engage with stakeholders, or has it become a cost of doing business?

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.This week we’ve put in a bonus podcast where we chat about Rajar’s latest results. For those of you that aren’t aware of Rajar - it was established in 1992 and operates the single audience measurement system for the radio industry in the United KingdomEach quarter they publish the listenership figures for UK radio and this offers a really interesting insight for PR people on how the UK public is engaging with this important channel. On the show today we have Howard Kosky, CEO of markettiers to talk us through the latest Rajar results.Before we start the PRmoment Awards 2023 are now open for entries - do check out the awards site PRmomentAwards.comThanks to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Howard and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:1.30 mins A record 49.7 million adults listen to the radio every week, 89% of the UK adult population, over 1 billion radio hours consumed each week and the average listener listens to 20.6 hours of live radio each week.3 mins 63% of people are listening to the radio at home, 23% of people are listening in the car and 14% at work or in places like the gym.4 mins How technology and changes in consumers working practices post-COVID have evolved people’s radio listening habits.4.30 min 13% of people listen to the radio through a smart speaker and 23% listen to the radio via online listening (streaming), DAB has dropped to 39%, Apps 10.2%“The technology is driving the trend”7.30 mins What is the opportunity for PR people in the modern radio market?“There are more choices a listener, which means the opportunity to reach a more indexed audience is greater from a PR and communications perspective but it means more effort.”“If you’re trying to mobilise a behaviour at a local level or at an age demographic or a profile demographic then the ability to reach tight audience group is absolutely there.” 9.30 mins What are the main content opportunities for PR people within radio?“They are radio stations first but increasingly multimedia platforms”13 mins Commercial radio has had a phenomenal year - “all commercial” radio is up from 36.8 million to 38.2 million, and local commercial radio is up from 24.4 million to 25.8 million.“I take my hat off to how the likes of Global and Bauer have implemented a strategy…to give listeners choice…They have recognised there is an opportunity to provide targeted programming output to reach a particular audience group”19 mins Why the BBC is trying to drop the age bracket of Radio 2 by not renewing the contracts of the likes of Steve Wright.

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.This week we’re chatting to Charles Tattersall, chief executive of Citypress about why he decided to sell his business to his employees through an employee-owned trust, rather than via an acquisition.In the show today we’re going to tell you agency owners out there what you need to know about taking your agency business into employee ownership. Charles will talk us through why he thinks agency owners should sell their business to their employees and how you can do it.For background, Citypress is an £11m fee income PR firm which was independently owned and became an employee-owned trust in 2021.Before we start do check out the home page of PRmoment for our latest webinars, including The intersection of Data, Insight and PR Planning and The State of Social Media 2022.And thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what  and PRmoment founder discussed:2 mins Charles talks us through what is an employee-owned trust and how they work.3.30 mins Who controls an employee-owned trust and how much do the original owners of the business have to pass on to the trust?“The previous shareholders cannot form the majority of the board on the trust”5 mins “A trust is the steward of ownership, there are no direct shareholders…it’s a limited company that has directors but its article of association means it’s not owned by anyone, it exists for the employees of the business.”8 mins A discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of the owner selling your business to an employee-owned trust compared to an exit via acquisition (both a trade sale and a private equity sale).“The challenge with an MBO is ultimately finance…that a big barrier for a lot of organisations”With an EOT “effectively the funding for the sale comes from future profits”11 mins Why Charles is amazed that more PR agency owners haven’t gone the employee-owned trust route.“One of the incentives is capital gains tax relieve on the sale.”11.30 mins If you want more information about EOTs, The Employee Ownership Organisation is a good place to start. 12 mins  While the advantages of an EOT exit are that it takes the risk and the uncertainty of the sale out of the for the owners of a business, are business owners going to get the same amount of money from an EOT exit compared to an exit via acquisition?“It depends Ben…it comes down to supply and demand”“If you run a business you always face a dilemma of what your potential exit is”“There are a small minority of businesses that are attractive to an outside acquirer”18 minsWhere does the money come from to form an employee-owned trust?“There are 3 types of payment our people get - their salary, their performance bonus based on how the business performs each year and when it comes to the profitability of the company, a certain proportion of the profits go to the trust and that is distributed to the people who are working for the business in that given year…so there’s a huge incentive for employees.”21 mins What is the tax incentive from the UK government or business owners to give their businesses to their employees paid from future profits?“It’s actually quite liberating (for me) not to be a majority shareholder of the company”

This week we’re chatting to Sheeraz Gulsher, EMEA communications, Snap and co-founder of People Like Us, about whether PR is making any progress in its quest to be more diverse and represent the audience that it aspires to communicate with.Before we start, do check out the home page of PRmoment for our latest webinars, including The intersection of Data, Insight and PR Planning and The State of Social Media Marketing Report.1 min Sheeraz tells us about People Like Us and its next event.4 mins Sheeraz talks us through other communities and programmes for minority groups in PR, namely: BMEPR Pros, The Blueprint, The Taylor Bennett Foundation and The Black Comms Network.5 mins Sheeraz talks us through how it feels to be part of a minority group and work in public relations.“There were points when I felt so alone and inadequate.”8 mins Sheeraz gives us an insight into what the barriers are for people working in PR from Black, Asian, mixed race and minority ethnic people working in comms.9 mins “We want to show people how brilliant we are”10 mins How can PR employers become better at employing people from Black, Asian, mixed race and minoritised ethnic backgrounds.“The Taylor Bennett Foundation is a hugely important organisation… that supports young ethnic minority people getting into comms”“Having that feeling that you’re part of something - that means the world”12 mins Sheeraz talks about the work of the Brixton Finishing School as an organisation promoting young diverse talent.13 mins What are the common themes for PR employers who are not attracting enough people from minority groups?“No one cares about duvet days or Friday bar anymore - you need to keep it real and show your commitment. What is your representation at the leadership or board level, and what are your commitments to making a more inclusive working environment? … Also, people talk.”15 mins A lot of PR employers say the reason they don't have more employees from Black, Asian, mixed race and minoritised ethnic backgrounds is they can't find the applicants working in PR. Does Sheezaz agree with that?“The talent is 100% out there”18 mins Does PR have a bigger diversity problem than law, design or marketing, for example?22 mins How does Sheeraz see PR’s diversity problem?24 mins Sheeraz talks us through the stats behind PR’s ethnicity pay gap.28 mins Is 25% a sensible diversity target for PR employers?

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.On the show today we're talking to Madan Bahal, co-founder of India's largest PR firm. Madan and I are going to talk about how, as an independent firm, Adfactors has grown from being one of a pack of highly regarded PR agencies in India - to becoming the biggest PR firm in India, frankly by a long, long way.It's a story that any independent PR firm founder or CEO should hear because while it's become an inspirational story, it's also a story of hard work and risk but ultimately reward.Many of our listeners of this podcast are from the UK and the US and may be less familiar with the story of Adfactors. For context, it is, by miles, India's biggest PR firm. Adfactors has a fee income of about $50 million. Their nearest rival is less than half of that size and all the big US firms have a presence in India, including Edelman, BCW and Weber.So, to give it a UK equivalent, the largest independent British-owned firm in the UK is Freuds. It would be like Freud's being more than twice the size of Edelman in London.So Adfactors is a quite remarkable story and today its co-founder Madan Bahal is on the show to give his insight to independent PR firm owners everywhere on how to scale their business and take on and win against the group-owned firms.2022 marks 25 years since Adfactors PR was founded.Here is a summary of what Madan and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:3 mins Madan, with 25 years of hindsight, reflects on how Adfactors has progressed and his recent induction into the Page Hall of Fame“History only has so much relevance… I always drive with my eyes on the road ahead.”“The scale of complexity we are seeing makes me feel worried… the scale of disruption and the scale of complexity we are seeing (means) that the world will expect public (deeper) relations counsel… I don’t think public relations firms by and large are evolving quickly enough to be able to deal with the same level of complexity in terms of its counsel” 5.30 mins Madan talks us through how Adfactors went from an $18m firm in 2015 to a $50m+ firm in 2022.“How do you keep investing in remaining relevant over time? How do you invest in your leadership? Adfactors has remained true to the craft and value proposition of public relations … our value proposition is earned influence.”9 mins As the owner of arguable the world's most successful independent PR firm - what is Madan’s advice for his independent agency peers?“Today independence is a strategic advantage - the network firms have lost their flexibility and adaptability. If someone buys a laptop in India the CFO has to do the clearance!”“The important thing is to run your business as if you are never going to sell it!”“Democratise power, responsibility and problem solving to the smallest possible level - so you are eliminated from the burden of carrying it all on your shoulders”12 mins Madan reveals when he was close to selling Adfactors.17.30 mins Madan talks us through his training priorities currently and what is Adfactor’s training budget per head.“The paradigm of influence has changed”21 mins Madan talks about his partnership with his co-founder Rajesh Chaturvedi. They have worked together for 25 years. What makes a successful business partnership?“Professional services sectors tend to grow at twice the rate of GDP”29 mins Madan talks about PR’s overservicing problem and his approach to solving this challenge.31 mins “Underspending is the best way of overspending…the market is the best teacher - when they (clients) realise the value of reputation.”

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Here’s the latest of our bonus pod series where I chat to Andrew Bloch about PR Pitches and merger & acquisition trends in the UK PR scene.Andrew is a co-founder and non-executive director at Frank PR and is now Head of PR at the new business consultancy firm AAR. He is also a partner at PCB Partners where he advises on buying and selling marketing services agencies.Do take a look at the PRmoment home page for details on our latest webinars, including The intersection of Data, Insight and PR Planning.Finally thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Andrew and I discussed:1 min Andrew gives his rundown of new business wins, including wins for Havas, Golin, Ready 10, Frank, Stir, Finn Partners, Tin Man and Simon and Simon.5 mins “Pitch wise it feels busier than ever… but definitely more project work (than retainers) and a slowing in terms of the decision making.”8 mins Andrew gives us his thoughts on a year-on-year comparison of the number of PR new business briefs.9 mins“What you tend to see is that for a lot of the big advertising briefs and big media briefs - the PR briefs follow on. I’ve got visibility on the ad world and media world and it’s crazy busy at the moment.” So maybe there are lots of PR briefs coming in the near future?11 mins Andrew gives his M&A update with some big trade side acquisitions from Finn Partners, kyu’s acquisition of Lexington, Hill+Knowlton Strategies' acquisition of the Jeffrey Group in Latin America and WE’s acquisition of Hopscotch.

This week we’re chatting to Chris Owen, UK Director at The Hoffman Agency about his experience being an alcoholic working in public relations.Chris has written a number of articles about the period of his life when he drank too much, including Things I don’t miss about alcohol addiction and How the NHS saved my life. On the show today we talk about Chris’s problems with alcohol in the context of his career as a PR professional. We ask whether working in public relations made him more likely to become an alcoholic.Don't forget that this Friday, October 7th is the final entry deadline for The ESG Awards.Thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Chris and PRmoment founder discussed:2 mins Chris talks us through when he started drinking too much, the impact it had on his life and when he realised it was a problem.3 mins When did Chris start his recovery?6 mins “I was on the phone with my dad one day and he said, we think you should go to The Priory…I was so tired, so exhausted.”8 mins Chris talks about his recovery journey: ”I just wanted it (my alcoholism) to finish.”10 mins ”A lot of addiction is based around shame.”“You’re not a bad person trying to be good, you're an unwell person trying to get well.”11 mins “In the same way as a person with a peanut allergy can’t have a little bit of a Snickers, I just know I can’t have a drop of alcohol.”14 mins Chris was an alcoholic before he started his career in PR but did the type of work and the work routine of a public relations job make his alcoholism worse?15.30 mins Why PR creates opportunities to drink for those who cannot drink safely.17.30 mins What can PR employers do to either help employees who are alcoholics or reduce the drinking culture within their firms?22.30 mins “You can foster a great culture without alcohol but alcohol plays a role within our society…there’s a gradient between alcohol being part of the culture that helps people unwind and it becoming part of the fabric of an agency. That’s when it gets a little bit toxic.”23 mins If you’ve got a drinking problem, or you’re concerned about someone you know, what should you do? Chris signposts us to some helpful resources:Alcoholics AnonymousWe Are With You (formally Addaction.)The NHS has some good information on how to get help and also some advice on how to approach your GP.Mind has a useful list of resources and advice on how to help someone with an alcoholic problem.Turning Point including its rehabilitation services.Drinkaware

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.This week we’re chatting to Emma Kane, Chief Executive of SEC Newgate UK and Deputy Group CEO Deputy SEC Newgate S.p.A about her career story in public relations.Previously Emma founded Redleaf Communications before selling the business to Porta in 2014. Porta combined with SEC Newgate in June 2019 in a reverse merger to form SEC Newgate.This integrated a number of businesses that had been acquired over the years including Redleaf, Publicasity, Newgate, SEC and Newington.  SEC Newgate has 43 offices globally, has revenues of about $150m and employs 900 people globally.Before we start - if you haven’t seen them already - take a look at the categories for The ESG Awards - the final entry deadline is 7th October.And do check out the home page of PRmoment for our latest webinars, including PR Analytics, LinkedIn as a B2B Marketing Channel, The Most Popular KPIs in PR and The intersection of Data, Insight and PR Planning.Finally, thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Emma and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed: 2 mins Emma’s career is a wonderful story of PR agency secretary to PR agency CEO. Here she talks us through how that happened.“One day my saxophone got exchanged for a briefcase!”4.30 mins Emma gives us a potted history of her career in PR5 mins Emma explains how a psychometric test she needed to take for a new job lead to her having a crisis of confidence!8 mins Emma talks us through when she had an awful experience in one job, “the leadership was feral and the culture was toxic…The catalyst for setting up my own agency was a day when a book that was left on my desk entitled ‘How to dine out and look weight’’12 mins Emma describes the decision in 2000 to found Redleaf Communications - as the most important decision of her career. 15 mins How significant was Redleaf’s acquisition of Polhill in the company’s growth story?20 mins How and why did Emma decide to sell Redleaf to Porta in 2019 and how did the original deal with Porta work?24 mins Emma talks us through how Porta became SEC Newgate.25 mins Emma became Chief Executive of SEC Newgate UK and Joint Group CEO in April 2018 - here she explains why it was a turnaround job for the UK business at that point in time.28.30 mins SEC Newgate acquired US firm Global Strategy Group in 2022 - which prior to being acquired had a turnover of $54 million in 2021 - so in PR land that’s a big deal size!31 mins It seems to me, quite quietly SEC Newgate has had a pretty formidable couple of years. What sort of shape is the business in now? And what type of work does SEC Newgate want to be known for?33 mins Emma talks us through how in her spare time she is Vice Chair & Chair Global Development Board for the Elton John AIDS Foundation and chair of Target Ovarian Cancer. 

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.This week we’re chatting to Emily Morgan, managing director, operations and innovation at The Red Consultancy.Emily has worked at Red for over 22 years and she’s recently evolved her role too, as the job title suggests, prioritise innovation within the firm.The Red Consultancy has a fee income of about £13m and is part of the Accordience, which was previously known as the Huntsworth Group. Red has a fee income of circa £14 m.The nature of a consultancy business is that to continue to add value to clients, you must innovate and as has been widely discussed the last 5 years have seen huge changes to the PR business and therefore the PR consultancy business - so I thought it would be interesting to get Emily on the show to talk about the innovation predictions and priorities in 2022 and beyond.Before we start - if you haven’t seen them already - take a look at the categories for The ESG Awards - the early entry deadline is 16th September.And do check out the home page of PRmoment for our latest webinars, including PR Analytics, The Most Popular KPIs in PR and The intersection of Data, Insight and PR Planning.Indeed Emily is a speaker at our free-to-attend Most Popular KPIs in PR webinar - so if you like the sound of what she talks about today - do register for that one.Finally, thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsor, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Emily and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed: 2.30 mins Why does Emily believe the pace of innovation in PR firms has increased?3 mins Emily talks us through the different types of innovation within a PR firm - from client innovation, to service innovation, to employee-related innovations and innovation of the PR tech stack.6.30 mins The raison d'etre of an agency is pretty much about being able to innovate - isn't that why clients have always hired agencies?8 mins Emily talks us through the intersection of innovation and operations within a PR firm.10 mins Innovation is such a broad word - it can encapsulate tiny process changes through to business-critical changes - how does Emily search for innovation within Red?14 mins How does a modern PR firm's offer need to adapt to updated client needs? Beyond ideas and activation - what else do clients want?17 mins Culture and sharing knowledge are pretty key to innovation, Emily explains how Red has balanced the desire for employees not to want to be in the office 5 days a week with the need to retain collegiate working practices.25.30 mins Emily talks us through what the intersection of people and technology looks like at Red.28 mins What innovations in the PR agency market over the last few years have stood out for Emily?

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.This week we’re chatting to Bradley Tooth, head of social media at Democracy PR about how brands can move from broadcasting content on social media to engaging with their customers and potential customers through social media.For those vintage social media users amongst our listeners - Brad was one of the guys who got blisters on his hands when 02 attempted to reply to every customer's Tweet during the early days of its Surprise and Delight strategy.Since then Brad has done some super interesting work for Sage - which we’ll talk about later and now he works for Democracy PRThanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here are a few of the highlights that Brad and PRmoment founder Ben Smtih discussed:2 mins How Brad believes so many brands are getting their social media strategy wrong by broadcasting too much content and not engaging with their audiences.“Of all The Premier League football club's Facebook posts last year, not one of them replied to a customer comment”3 mins Understanding on-feed and off-feed content on the social platforms4 mins What sort of content gets engagement?“Look at Manchester United on TikTok, they wax lyrical about the number of views their content has generated - views are great but TikTok’s basis and antithesis is that it is an engagement problem and they (Manchester United) don’t respond!... It’s madness - the way the platforms work is that when you respond to your customers and you’re a verified account, you get more views”6 mins How the social media channel algorithms reward engagement7 mins Can social media engagement be automated?“AI’s great for lots of stuff, but social networks are for people”9  mins How brands can manage and respond in an engaging way on social - by scaling up and scaling down.10 mins Where does a social media engagement strategy meet the customer services team?“Don’t try and close off conversations on social…Why would you want to stop your customers from communicating with you!?”14 mins Is the trick to get lots of engagement as a brand - to be funny? And lots of brands don’t want to be funny?“Engagement doesn’t have to be funny, it has to be authentic…tailor yourself to the room”16 mins How are brands scaling up and down their social media teams?“Comms people are best placed to deliver interactions (on social)”“Social never sleeps and it never stops - sign up to the platform notification updates to see how quickly things change”18 mins What is the skill set of a good social media community manager?20 min Good engagement requires specific content across different channels, Brad talks us through what that looks like across the channels.22 mins What are the best tools to help brands manage their communities across the different social media channels?“The platforms want you to interact on their platforms”26 mins Brad discusses the need for brands to adapt their social media strategies according to the platform’s algorithm.28 mins Brad talks us through “The Sage Boss it 2021” campaign, 

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.This week we’re chatting to Ruth Allchurch, UK MD WE. We’re going to talk about Ruth’s career to date including her time at Diageo, her experience at Cirkle and most recently at WE where she has took the UK income of the firm to close to £7m, from about £3m when she joined as the UK MD 4 years ago.Currently, 60 people work in London for WE and current clients include Capgemini, Intel, Abbott, Johnson & Johnson, Boehringer Ingelheim and Google Waves.Before we start - if you haven’t seen them already - take a look at the categories for The ESG Awards - the early entry deadline is 16th September.And do check out the home page of PRmoment for our latest webinars, including PR Analytics, LinkedIn as a B2B Marketing Channel, The Most Popular KPIs in PR and The intersection of Data, Insight and PR Planning.Finally, thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here's a summary of what Ruth and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:2 mins Ruth talks us through how a PR firm with a fee income of £3m turned itself into a PR firm with a fee income of over £6.5m inside 4 years. “There is no scope for ambiguity when you're looking to grow a business”“We were overservicing on low fee accounts…it's not about more clients its about having healthier partnerships with the ones we choose wot work with”9 mins Ruth was on Weber Shandwick’s first-ever graduate training programme. In PR it seems unfashionable to be a graduate at the moment - would Ruth go to Uni again?11 mins Are graduate PR schemes still a good idea?13  mins Ruth started her career agency side at Weber Shandwick and then went to Cohn & Wolfe before she went in-house at Diageo. How important was that period in-house in the story of her career?15 mins Why did Ruth leave a nice in-house role to go back agency side when she joined Cirkle?17 mins Ruth talks us through her time at Cirkle. “It was probably the steepest learning curve I’ve ever had in my career”19 mins Why did Ruth leave BCW to move to WE?22 mins How has the type of work changed that WE UK does in the last 4 years?“We do much more employee engagement work than we’ve ever done before”24 mins Has the culture of WE changed in the last 4 years?26 mins What do you need to do to change the culture of a PR firm?28 mins Ruth talks us through why she’s not a great fan of the pitching process, and how she’d change it.31 mins Why Ruth doesn’t believe PR prices itself correctly.32 mins As a female leader of perhaps the only female-founded international PR network - what mark out of 10 does  Ruth give PR on its gender equality progress?33.30 mins Ruth talks us through her experience of having a Ukrainian family stay for 4 months.

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Here’s the latest of our bonus pod series where I chat to Andrew Bloch about PR Pitches and merger & acquisition trends in the UK PR scene.Andrew is a co-founder and Non-Executive Director at Frank PR and is now Head of PR at the new business consultancy firm AAR. He is also a partner at PCB Partners where he advises on buying and selling marketing services agencies.Don’t forget the early entry deadline for The ESG Awards is coming up on Friday 16th September.Thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Andrew and I discussed:3 mins It’s been a bumper month on the PR agency new business front and Andrew talks us through some of the most recent PR account wins including wins for Adhuro, Ketchum, Edelman, The Academy, Boldspace, news of a shake-up of Direct Line’s agency roster, Kindred, Splendid, Tin Man, Wildcard and Spider.9 mins Andrew updates us on the PR M&A market: we’ve seen the larger enterprise values (over $50/100m) deals suffer from uncertainty in the market.11 mins The number of micro deals involving independent PR firms continues to increase with organisations continuing to want to broaden their offer.12 mins Andrew M&A acquisition update: including Splendid’s acquisition of Riot, Enero and Hotwire’s continued buying spree, Square in the Air and CTP launch of a JV called Chalk+Dog, another Selby Anderson acquisition and PMLR’s acquisition of Health Comms Consultants.20 mins “You need scale to succeed…to generate organic growth but also as a protectionist measure.”

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.This week we’re chatting to Rebecca Grant, UK CEO,  BCW Global. Rebecca has one of the biggest jobs in UK PR. She heads up a team of over 200 people at BCW’s London office and she led the Cohn & Wolfe London operation through the merger with Burson Masteller to a period of significant growth for what was already a big PR and comms operation.Rebecca joined BCW in 2011, previously she worked for Weber Shandwick and The Red Consultancy. She was appointed UK CEO on 2016.And do check out the home page of PRmoment for our latest webinars, including PR Analytics, LinkedIn as a B2B Marketing Channel and The intersection of Data, Insight and PR Planning.Finally, thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here is a summary of what Rebecca and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:3 mins Rebecca on what it's like running a PR team of over 200 people.5 mins Rebecca reflects on how PR has changed so much in a relatively short period of time6 mins Rebecca’s personal story is an interesting one. Her grandmother moved to the UK as a refugee from Zanzibar - so she is living proof of the moral and economic benefits of welcoming refugees into the UK.10 mins I put it to Rebecca that she’s got the second biggest PR agency job in the UK!11 mins What is Rebecca most proud of during her time as UK CEO of BCW?14 mins How has the type of work that BCW has changed in the last couple of years?“When I started this job (in 2018) the briefs and client problems were contained at a practice level, so you’d have a  consumer brief and a corporate brief or a healthcare brief, the client work we’re doing now isn’t confined by those silos, it’s about a business challenge.”“As a PR agency, you have a very different perspective on your client’s business than many of your competitors within the marketing (consultancy) world.”16 mins WPP’s PR Division grew by 27.4% in Q1 2022 - how did the UK bit of BCW fair?18 mins Has the cost of living crisis impacted the PR agency market yet?19.30 mins It's been a full-on couple of years at BCW - they had the merger of Burson Marsteller and Cohn & Wolfe and then Covid. What's the shape of the business at the moment? Is the bulk of the revenue still in corporate and healthcare?22 mins What type of consumer work is coming out of BCW London?24 mins BCW has just moved into WPP's office in Bankside - does Rebecca worry that it will be an increasing challenge to retain the BCW brands and culture in a multi-firm office?25 mins A discussion of how multi-disciplinary, multi-agency teams within a holding group can work together.

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.This week we’re chatting to Alex Myers, founder and global CEO of Manifest. Manifest employees circa 70 people globally, has a fee income of over £5m globally, with about $2m of that coming from its fast-growing New York Office. London remains its largest hub. It also has offices in Stockholm and Melbourne.Do check out the home page of PRmoment for our latest webinars, including PR Analytics, LinkedIn as B2B Marketing Channel and The intersection of Data, Insight and PR Planning.Finally, thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a flavour of what Alex and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:2 mins We last had Alex on the show in 2018. How have the last 4 years been for Manifest?4 mins Alex discusses the challenges of trying to take a British consumer PR firm global.7 mins Alex talks about the UK PR market - from regulation, culture and media differences. 10 mins Digital media is very fragmented in the US, so you can’t start with the media - you have to start with the brand strategy.13 mins “Sustainability is a four-letter word in Sweden, it’s beige level.”15 mins What was the decision-making behind where Mianfest launched its international offices?20 mins Why Manifest have just changed its creative team’s structure - making it a centralised resource.23 mins “I don’t care what room the money is in as long as it’s in the house.”24 mins “I didn’t set up the business to be a boss, I set up the business to not have a boss.”24 mins Alex talks us through Manifest’s central strategy of trying to move its work “upstream.”26 mins “The best articulation of your brand is your product”31 mins “The challenge with the words “public relations” is that they don’t tell you what it (PR) does”34 mins Alex argues that PR agencies that are part of networks are in danger of being merged into the holding company's “endorsement brand.”37 mins “It’s not about efficiency it’s about efficacy - there are too many channels to have a budget for each of them…you need a customer-based strategy, not a channel strategy”

Welcome to this week's The PRmoment Podcast.On the show, this week is James Beveridge, founder of Made by Giants. James is one of PR's most experienced creative directors. He moved from the creative agency Further into PR in 2014 to work for Fishburn. He started Made by Giants back in 2020 and it's now a £700K B2B tech PR firm.On the show today we're going to talk about some research that James has been doing on creative directors in PR, the skill sets of good creative directors in PR and also the theme of James' 30-year PR career - the intersection between design and communication.Do take a look at the homepage of PRmoment for details on all our latest webinars and thanks so much to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors The PRCA.James welcome to the show.2 mins James talks us through his research into how many creative directors there are in PR.6 mins James' hypothesis is that most Creative Directors in PR come from a PR background - this means that they are likely to be more tuned into the news agenda and good with words but they may miss the visual dimension of creativity.“They lack the qualifications, skills and experience in conceptual visual and design skills that make creativity”6.30 mins How often do PR creative directors miss out because they didn’t go to art school?8.30 mins According to James’ research 38% of creative directors in PR have no creative qualifications and 21% of PR agencies have creative directors with a design background.9 mins Is James saying PR has got the creative director role wrong? Or does a creative director in PR just have a different skill set than that in advertising?12.30 mins James talks about why he places such an emphasis on the craft between creativity and design.14 mins James talks about how different types of businesses need creativity in different ways - from a category creator, to a disruptor, an evolutionary or a refresher business strategy.15.30 mins Why does B2B creative still lack the aura of consumer creativity?18 mins James talks us through what his experience of starting a business previously taught him when it came to starting Made By Giants. 19 mins What was the catalyst that led to James and Made By Giants co-founder Grace Keeling to set up a business together?20 mins Made By Giants doesn't have an office but hires out a hotel lobby once a week where they all spend a day together!

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.This week we’re chatting to Alex Aiken, long-time executive director, of the UK Government’s Communication Service.We’re going to talk to Alex about his career in government communications, the personalities of the Prime Ministers he’s worked with and the changes he made during his time heading up the Government Communications Service.Before we start, just to tell you about PRmoment’s new Patron Scheme. If you are a regular consumer of our content, including this podcast, and you’re getting value from it, if you fancy making a contribution to help fund PRmoment - now you can.We have three different Patron Tiers—The Daney Parker Tier, The Chadlington Tier and Edward Bernays Tier.And do check out the home page of PRmoment for our latest webinars, including PR Analytics, LinkedIn as a B2B Marketing Channel and The intersection of Data, Insight and PR Planning.Finally, thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.This interview was recorded before the resignation of Boris Johnson as the UK’s Prime Minister.Alex welcome to the show: 2 mins Alex talks us through his new job!3 mins Alex reflects on his 9 years heading up the UK’s Government Communications Service, a period which covered The Referendum, Brexit, COVID and Putin’s war in Ukraine“What I wanted to do is create an exceptional standard of government communication”5 mins Alex compares the 3 Prime Ministers he’s worked with  - David Cameron, Theresa May and then Boris Johnson. How would you compare their leadership styles?6 mins Alex discusses the leadership styles of Cameron, May and Johnson.“The demands on PMs is so much greater in 2022 than when I started”7 mins How Prime Ministers have had to adapt their leadership styles over the last 10 years.“The UK Government is a £700 bn beast that operates 24/7”8 mins Does the work of GCS’s change depending on who is the leader of the government? Or is the approach fairly standard?9 mins Due to the volume of communications channels - has the complexity of government communications become too complex?11 mins As a government communicator does Alex worry about the impact of the current “party” scandals on the public’s trust in government?13 mins Alex about his passion for effective government communications and how “effective public service communications can change, improve, enhance and save lives”14 mins“The issue, whether your private sector or public sector, is evaluation”16 mins How can governments fight disinformation? Alex recommends the RESIST toolkit for further reading. 20 mins Alex talks about the risk of the UK coming under a cyber security attack from a foreign government.20.30 mins Alex discusses the behavioural science strategy behind the UK’s COVID communications.22.30 mins Will Alex’s work on the UK government's evaluation framework be his legacy from his 

On the PRmoment Podcast this week with me Ben Smith we’re talking to Darryl Sparey, co-founder of Hard Numbers about how to measure the impact of your PRDarryl believes the opportunity is ripe for communicators everywhere to accurately measure their results through sales software like Hubspot and the like.And today Darryl is going to give his insight into the techniques and tools that he’s found most useful in taking that approach.Hard Numbers is a B2B tech PR firm with a fee income of £1.4 m in the last financial year and 18 employees. Darryl co-founded the business in 2020 with Paul Stollery.Don’t forget you can become a PRmoment Podcast Patreon - just follow the link on the page where you listen to this podcast. From just £5 a month we have three different Patron Tiers - The Daney Parker Tier, The Chadlington Tier and Edward Bernays Tier.Here’s a summary of what Darryl and I discussed:3 mins Are most B2B PR campaigns still not properly integrated with the sales process? Aren’t we a bit beyond that now? 4.30 mins Why PR people need to spend more time with chief revenue officers6 mins “PR measurement is (mainly based on) content analysis, not what impacts the business.”8.30 mins Darryl talks about the wonder of the B2B space: you can target content specifically to your buyer.10 mins Why B2B PR firms must have read-only access to their client’s CRM and Google Analytics - otherwise they can’t do their job.12 mins Darryl's advice for PR people: “Ask the CRO/Head of Sales: What are the most commonly held reasons why you don’t win business?”14.30 mins A discussion of the best CRM, data and business intelligence tools13 mins How to cost-effectively bring your data together from multiple sources15 mins The customer’s data journey will enable you to see the content ecosystem that they operate in and the cost per acquisition of the content.18 mins “Did that activity lead to an opportunity in the CRM and did it close?”19 mins Darryl’s PR: sales impact tools of choice: Google Analytics, paid media channels, the clients CRM, the agency CRM (Darryl uses Hubspot), Google Data Studio, Databox, Microsoft’s Power BI.23 mins Everyone has access to the tools: the secret source is how you bring them together in an accessible dashboard.25 mins Darryl’s most popular impact KPIs: Leads, leads and leads27 mins How to link content to results: links, links links28 mins “50% of our coverage for a client, as a minimum, must have a link - if it does we can do all the clever measurement stuff. If you don’t have a link the measurement is a lot harder.”30 mins “If you don’t get a link (in coverage) to demonstrate a referral traffic, you can use branded search stats to help show the impact of a campaign”31 mins Why Darryl is trying to move PR down the funnel!

On the PRmoment Podcast this week with me Ben Smith we’re talking to Chris Curtis, head of political polling at Opinium in the first of a regular slot where we discuss the latest polling trends in UK politics.Before we start, PRmoment’s webinar caravan is off again. We’ve got a programme of 8 webinars coming up in September and November which we’ll be launching over the next 6 weeks. Already up on the site are PR Analytics, LinkedIn as a B2B Marketing Channel and The intersection of Data, Insight and PR Planning so do have a look at the home page of PRmoment where you can see the full programmes. Tickets, as ever, are at the cheap end of affordable - from only £40 plus vat.And don’t forget if you enjoy the show you can become a PRmoment Podcast Patreon - just follow the link on the page where you listen to this podcast. From just £5 a month we have three different Patron Tiers - The Daney Parker Tier, The Chadlington Tier and Edward Bernays Tier.Below is a summary of what we talk about, please note this podcast was recorded before Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid quit Boris Johnson's government.1.30 mins Will Boris will go this year?3 mins “The Prime Minister has fallen to the level of approval rating that prime ministers don’t usually come back from and things are going to get a lot worse”4 mins Chris on why The Tories are only 3 points behind in Opinium’s latest poll from 22nd June5 mins Chris identifies the WAND (working age, no degree) voters who “will decide the next election.”6.30 mins 58% of WAND’s voted to leave the EU.8 mins Why the high rate of inflation and cost of living crisis has changed the communications response required from the government to the strikes. 

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Here’s the latest of our bonus pod series where I chat to Andrew Bloch about PR Pitches and merger & acquisition trends in the UK PR scene.Andrew is a co-founder and Non-Executive Director at Frank PR and is now Head of PR at the new business consultancy firm AAR. He is also a partner at PCB Partners where he advises on buying and selling marketing services agencies.Don’t forget the entry deadline for The Creative Moment Awards is coming up on Friday 1st July.Thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what we talked about:1 min Andrew gives us his run of this month's biggest pitch news with wins for Kindred, Finn, Luchford, Stir, Alfred, Mischief, John Doe and Rise at Seven.4 mins How likely is the PR market likely to slow down because of the cost of living crisis?7 mins The continued trend towards project work away from retainer relationships.8 mins The continued buoyancy of the corporate PR market - retaining the growth of the COVID years in crisis and issues work.9 mins This month’s M&A activity round-up - including news of another funding round for Selby Anderson and a potential hiccup in Next Fifteen’s acquisition of M&C Saatchi.

On the PRmoment Podcast this week with me Ben Smith we’re talking to PR academic Tom Watson about the History of PR - when, where and how did the business of public relations begin.Tom is a professor emeritus at Bournemouth University, he taught on Bournemouth’s PR degree for a number of years. Previously he spent much of his career running his own PR firm and he was the founder of the annual History of PR Conference - the 2022 version of which takes place in Bournemouth on July 6th and 7th.Before we start just a nudge to remind you all about the final deadline for The Creative Moment Awards on Friday 1st July 2022.And don’t forget you can become a PRmoment Podcast Patreon - just follow the link on the page where you listen to this podcast. From just £5 a month we have three different Patron Tiers - The Daney Parker Tier, The Chadlington Tier and Edward Bernays Tier.Here’s a summary of what Tom and I discussed:1.30 mins How PR goes as far back as Julius Caeser and The Babylons! From the beginning of time Kings and Queens have tried to promote themselves!3.30 mins Historically is the rise of public relations linked to the rise of journalism?6 mins When did professional PR as we recognise it today start to appear?8 mins How there were 3 different, separate beginnings to professional public relations - in the US, in Germany and in the UK in the 19th Century.“Evangelical Churches, railways and circuses all played an important part in the development of publicity methods in North America.”11 mins How public relations has tended to start with government promotion, then move onto corporate PR and then consumer brand PR would follow.12 mins Tom talks about earlier corporate PR - “the journalist in residence model”12.30 mins Why agencies have tended to be the final stage of PR’s evolution. The first PR agency in the UK was called “Editorial Services” which was set up by Sir Basil Clarke in 1924. The Guardian refers to Clarke as “the man who invented PR” in this archived article.“The first public relations officer was appointed by Southern Railways in 1925”15 mins When did public relations become a broader discipline beyond just publicity?“It was (Arthur) Page who was the first to look at public relations in a far bigger context, affecting the whole organisation and not just a communication/publicity activity.”17 minsTom talks us through his most important personalities in the evolution of PR“Bernays is massively overrated in importance”“Ivy Lee made some mistakes but he was important as he was seen as the epitomisation of this new promotional profession.”20 mins Why does Germany remain the centre of PR research excellence?22 mins Tom summarises the timeline of PR academia24 mins Tom talks about the internationalisation of PR and the rise and dominance of the large US PR firms - as American companies went around the world, US PR firms followed them25.30 mins The rise of women in PR: how we’re barely starting to research why the gender change in public relations took place from the 1980s

On the PRmoment Podcast this week with me Ben Smith we’re talking to Nick Braund, founder of Words and Pixels about the PR for start-ups market.Nick founded Words and Pixels in 2020, it has a fee income of just over £1 million, grew by 300% in 2021 and specialises in the PR for start-up scene.Just a nudge to remind you all about the final deadline for The Creative Moment Awards on Friday 1st July 2022.And don’t forget you can become a PRmoment Podcast Patreon - just follow the link on the page where you listen to this podcast. From just £5 a month we have three different Patron Tiers - The Daney Parker Tier, The Chadlington Tier and Edward Bernays Tier.Thanks as ever to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Nick and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:2 mins Nick reflects on the start-up PR market at the moment?3 mins A discussion of London’s role in the tech start-up ecosystem“The investment community is now looking for bottom-line, rather than top-line growth”9 mins What does good start-up PR look like?“Half of our clients come to us because they have funding, half of our clients want us to help them get funding”12 mins A discussion of the tech start-up media15 mins When is the right time for a start-up to use PR?19 mins Does start-up PR often result in funding success?21 min Nick takes our start-up terminology test!

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast with me Ben Smith.Today we’re talking to Daisy Hawker Wallace about what clients want from their PR agency?Daisy is currently deputy director & head of PR at Avanti West Coast. Previously she’s worked in-house at Virgin Trains and Virgin. She’s had agency roles at Ketchum and TVC. So she’s sat on both sides of the fence and today she’s going to give her perspective on the agency: in-house relationship and how you can make it work most effectively.Before we start don’t forget the final entry deadline for The Creative Moment Awards is coming up on Friday 1st July.Thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA. Here’s a summary of what Daisy and I discussed:1 min As a client, has Daisy had a positive experience with PR agencies over the years?9 mins Daisy has had experience both agency side and in-house, does that help when it comes to the management of a PR agency?11 mins As a client - what do you want from your PR agency?19 mins Have many in-house teams become basically an internal agency for their organisation?21 mins What are the biggest agency turn-offs for a client?24 mins Has the agency: client relationship changed over the last few years?If you enjoyed this podcast and work in-house? Then please take part in this groundbreaking research: Why do clients hire PR agencies? 

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Here’s the third of a new bonus pod series where I chat to Andrew Bloch about PR Pitches and merger & acquisition trends in the UK PR scene.Andrew is a co-founder and Non-Executive Director at Frank PR and is now Head of PR at the new business consultancy firm AAR. He is also a partner at PCB Partners where he advises on buying and selling marketing services agencies.Don’t forget the entry deadline for The Creative Moment Awards is coming up on Friday 1st July.Thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Andrew and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:1 min Andrew gives us his run of this month's biggest pitching scene - including wins for Hope&Glory, W, The Romans, Cow and Manifest. 3 mins The Dept for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy announces its roster including Four Communications, M&C Saatchi, Freuds, Havas and Engine. 5 mins Andrew’s rundown of interesting M & M&A deals in PR, including BGF’s investment in Media Zoo, another private equity firm Northedge invested in life science specialist Ramarketing and Clarity acquired 93xdigital.8 mins and 13mins A discussion of Next Fifteen's potential acquisition of M&C Saatchi for £310 million.“We’re seeing the future of marketing where data and tech meets creativity and that blend is driving the market”10 mins Andrew on why the PR M&A market is so hot at the moment.

On the show this week we’re talking to Fenella Grey EMEA managing director & chair at Porter Novelli. Porter Novelli has had an interesting few years. Brad MacAfee took over from Karen van Bergen as Porter Novelli’s global CEO in 2016 and he was replaced by ex McKinsey executive David Bentley in early 2020.But a constant throughout this period was Fenella Grey who headed up the London office and is now leading the agency across EMEA.Porter Novelli is part of the Omnicom PR group and has 85 people in its London office.Omnicom PR has global venues of $1.39 billion in 2021. Today we’re going to talk to Fenella about the challenges of being a mid-sized firm surrounded by giants and how Porter Novelli in EMEA has reinvigorated itself over the last 12 months Just a nudge to remind you all about the early entry deadline for The Creative Moment Awards on Friday 27th May 2022Thanks as ever to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors The PRCA. Here’s a summary of what Fenella and PRmoment founder Ben Smith chatted about:2 mins What has Porter Novelli got right and what has it got wrong over the few years?5 mins At one point Porter Novelli very much positioned itself as a Purpose agency - did that not really work out?6 mins When does an agency specialism become a growth constrictor?8 mins What kind of agency is Porter Novelli now?10 mins Fenella gives her perspective on why mid-size firms are thriving at the moment.“The old fashioned hub and spoke model is no longer fit for purpose”12 mins Porter Novelli had 22% growth across EMEA last year, so it's outperforming the rest of Omnicom PR which had 6% growth in 2021. What accounts for that difference in growth rates?13 mins Porter Novelli EMEA had a 96% employee retention rate last year, with a 40% increase in headcount.16 mins Fenella talks to us about The Omnicom Tech Stack. What exactly is it and why does Fenella describe it as “transformative” to Porter Novelli.18 mins On the personal side of things Fenella went down to 2 days a week in 2019 and has returned to 4 days a week - what happened to her side hustles?21 mins Did Fenella’s experiences during the COVID years make her better at her job?24 mins Did lockdown make PR agencies better employers?“Taking a talent first approach pays in the long term”

One year on from the MBO of Frank PROn the show this week we’re catching up with Frank PR’s Graham Goodkind and Alex Grier, one year on from a particularly eye-catching deal where Alex and Graham bought back the remaining 75% of Frank for approximately £850,000 from Enero. 14 years earlier, back in 2007, Frank was sold to Photon Group (as Enero was then known) for more than £20m.If you haven't already, do register for your free ticket for our upcoming webinar on ree webinar on The link between corporate reputation and business performance.Thanks as ever to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors The PRCA. Here’s a summary of what we discussed:1.30 mins Graham talks us through the history of Frank's original sale, the original earn-out and the subsequent 25% share buyback deal with Enero. 4 mins Why Graham fell out of love with PR and how he got it back. 5 mins and 7.30 mins Why did Alex and Graham buy Frank back?6 mins Graham talks us through the negotiation of the MBO to buy Frank back.10.30 mins How much did Alex and Graham buy Frank back for?“The business was treading water…the work wasn’t as exciting”13 mins What was its fee income of Frank in the year before it was bought and what is the fee income now?14 mins What changes have Graham and Alex made to the business since the MBO?“The business was being run way too much by numbers”“We were financially driven,  now we’re creatively driven”“Structurally we had a whole creative department, planners, strategists…but we hadn’t really come up with an award-winning campaign in years. We had amazing Powerpoint presentations!”20 mins Can you track the rebirth or Frank to the Weetabix and Beans campaign?22.30 mins How many brands rung up Frank wanting their Weetabix and Beans moment?27 mins What is Frank today? A consumer PR firm or a social media agency?27.30 mins How big do Alex and Graham want Frank 3.0 to get?“As an agency, you need to grow - as that’s the way your people can grow.”30 mins Graham talks us through his exit plan for Frank 3.0 - does he envisage making another call to Enero in a couple of years' time?!

This week on the PRmoment Podcast we’re talking to Alex Warren about his book Spin Machines - which asks the question “Can PR be replaced by AI?”As well as writing his book Alex is also a senior account director at Wildfire PR.On the show, Alex talks about whether an algorithm can devise a PR strategy? Can a robot brainstorm a creative campaign? Can artificial intelligence write persuasively, spin stories or even pitch to journalists? These are the questions Alex poses in his book Spin Machines which is described as an investigation into the changing nature of PR, the future of agency life and the role that machines will play in an industry built on human relationships.Before we start just to promo our stunning free webinar we’ve got coming up on The link between corporate reputation and business performance.Thanks as ever to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors The PRCA.Here’s a flavour of what Alex and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discuss:2 mins Alex talk us through what his book Spin Machines is all about?3.30 mins What are the lessons to be learnt from marketing automation, when it comes to the use of AI in PR?4.30 mins The book focuses on the extent machine learning and AI can replace the creative PR brain, not merely the automation of repetitive tasks.6 mins What bits of PR are most likely to be automated first?8 mins How does an AI tool write creatively? 12 mins Can an AI tool be creative? Or is that an oxymoron!13 mins Big C and small c creativity: How much of what PR people do today is truly creative?14 mins Do you think PR people have underestimated the extent to which they are likely to be replaced by automated AI tools?18 mins What are the data sets at the foundation of PR that AI tools can use to predict outcomes?19 mins Alex explains the ketchup effect and why it’s relevant when discussing the use of AI in PR.21 mins How will AI change the PR agency model?

This week on the PRmoment Podcast we’re talking to crisis PR lawyer Jonathan Coad, about his new book Reputation Matters. Jonathan is one of the UK’s top media lawyers, he’s spent 30 years working on both the PR side and the editorial sides of the fence. Reputation Matters gives a unique insight into how the media works with practical advice on how to deal with PR crises effectively. Jonathan is also the principal at Coad Law.Before we start just to promo our stunning free webinar we’ve got coming up on The link between corporate reputation and business performance.Thanks as ever to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors The PRCA.Here’s a flavour of what Jonathan and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discuss:1 min Jonathan talks us through what the book is all about and why he wrote it?3 mins Why PR people need to have a better knowledge of media law and media regulation than most of them currently do4 mins Why you can’t do crisis PR without an intricate knowledge of both the Independent Press Standards Organisation's Editorial Code and OFCOM’s Broadcasting Code.4.30 mins Why are these codes so often ignored by the press?7 mins Is this a legal textbook or a PR textbook?7.30 mins Jonathan claims that this book tells PR people how the media works8.30 mins How can a lawyer, or a PR person, undermine the confidence of a journalist's source?10 mins Is the reason Jonathan wrote the book because of his deep-seated anger with the UK press?12 mins “When the press tell us something that is untrue, we all suffer.”13 mins “The best way to deal with a media crisis is to stop it from happening” - how can you use the media’s regulations to do that?13.30 mins Why writing a statement in response to a story is very often completely the wrong thing to do.14 mins Why the golden hour of crisis response is actually the hour before publication, not the hour after publication.15 mins Jonathan gives us his insight into who is likely to win the Rooney Vardy case. The key element is likely to be the cross-examination of Rebecca Vardy and whether she can convince the judge that her personal PR person leaked information to the press about Coleen Rooney without Rebecca Vardy’s knowledge.17 mins Jonathan reflects on the Johnny Depp Amber Heard case and the differences between UK and US law.

This week on the PRmoment Podcast, we’re talking to Nicole Yost, CEO of HAVAS Just:: and Corin Baird, head of digital at HAVAS Just:: about the incredible year that healthcare PR has had.We’re going to be talking about the top healthcare trends and what excellence in this buoyant sector of the public relations world looks like.Before we start just to promo our stunning selection of free webinars we’ve got coming up: ranging from PR and TikTok, Changing your measurement mindset: from output to impact and Correlation or causation?: The link between corporate reputation and business performance.And if you want to come along to The PRmoment Awards in Manchester on May 12th tickets are still available.Thanks as ever to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors The PRCA. Nicole and Corin welcome to the show1 min Why the last year in healthcare PR has been a year like!1.30 mins Havas Just:: grew 50% last year without pitching!3 mins Why did healthcare PR have such a good year in 2021 - and no it’s not all down to COVID!4 mins How the ecosystem of the client-agency relationship has changed in healthcare PR 5 mins How COVID proved that pharma can move at speed.7 mins Nicole gives her observations on the communications of the COVID vaccines.8 mins To what extent were poor communications from some of the pharmaceutical industry responsible for the anti-vax debate gaining initial momentum?9.30 mins Is healthcare PR a few years ahead of the rest of the public relations when it comes to communications that drive behaviour change?12 mins Why has digital become such an important part of healthcare communications?14 mins The importance of community management in healthcare PR17 mins What drives the creation of a successful patient community and what is the role of the pharma brand in creating that community?19 mins Potentially communities last forever, don’t they? How does a pharma brand budget for that?21 mins A discussion on the limitations of influencer marketing in consumer health campaigns.23 mins There’s a long term shortage of available talent in healthcare PR and this has resulted in a higher percentage of freelance workers in healthcare, compared to other areas of public relations. Is this trend of going freelance still accelerating or has it plateaued?And how has IR 35 impacted freelancer: agency relationships?

This week on the PRmoment Podcast, I’m interviewing Michelle Goodall, chief marketing officer, Guild about the techniques required to build a community, the differences between a network and a community and what are the advantages for organisations in having an engaged community.Do take a look at the stunning selection of free webinars we’ve got coming up: ranging from PR and TikTok, Changing your measurement mindset: from output to impact and Correlation or causation?: The link between corporate reputation and business performance.Thanks as ever to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors The PRCA. Here’s a summary of what Michelle and I discussed:1 min When we talk about a community in a business context - how are you defying that?2 mins Michelle talks us through the 5 P’s of different types of communities3 mins Are the characteristics of B2B communities and B2C communities different?4 mins  What’s the difference between a community and a network?6 mins Is a reader of a website part of a community? Is someone who follows you or your brand on Twitter, or who subscribes to your newsletter part of a community?9 mins Do organisations have one community or are they in effect a series of different communities around different interests?11 mins Is building a community always a good idea?13 mins How do you choose which channel to host your community on?16 mins What is the role of content in building a community?18 mins What are the skills required to be a good community manager?23 mins Why are there not more community specialists working in PR?25 mins Michelle tells us about Guild and its mobile-first, no ads approach to community building.

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Here’s the second of a new bonus pod series where I chat to Andrew Bloch about PR Pitches and merger & acquisition trends in the UK PR scene.Andrew is a co-founder and Non-Executive Director at Frank PR and is now Head of PR at the new business consultancy firm AAR. He is also a partner at PCB Partners where he advises on buying and selling marketing services agencies.This is a final call for The PRmoment Awards in London on April 28th and the Manchester Awards are also shaping up to be a big night on the 12th of May.Thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Andrew and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discuss:2 mins Andrew gives us an update on recent PR pitch news3 mins How is the impact of the current high rate of inflation and the uncertainty in the economy impacting client decisions?7 mins Can agencies be more front footed in their negotiations with clients at the moment?9 mins Andrew and I discuss Huntsworth's acquisition of Cirkle.14 mins What private groups are most active in acquiring PR firms at the moment?

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.Time flies doesn't it. We’re well over a quarter of the way through 2022 - remember those plans and hopes we all had on Jan 1st? Well, it’s time for a progress report!PR land seems to continue to be pretty frantic - it’s a hot market both in terms of the amount of work going through in house teams, agencies are as busy as ever and the pressure for talent intensifies.That all seems kinda crazy bearing in mind the horrific scenes we see on our scenes from Putin’s war in Ukraine and the imminent cost of living crisis we’re about to witness in the UK.So I thought it was time to catch up with a W’s Warren Johnson for PR’s Q1 Report!Before that - just to let you know tickets are genuinely flying for the PRmoment Awards in London on April 28th. I've no doubt the London Awards is going to be our biggest ever event and an absolute who’s who of the UK PR scene - so make sure you get your ticket.Also, thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here is a summary of what Warren and I discussed:2 mins How are you seeing the PR market now that Q1 2022 is done and dusted?2.30 mins “The resourcing game has got expermentally harder!”4 mins “In terms of the overall marketing mix, PR still offers phenomenal bang for buck”4.30 mins Warren updates us on W’s purchase of travel communications specialist Lotus Communications.5.30 mins The headcount of W in London is over 100, with revenues of over £10m and 20% growth.6.30 mins The PR industry is yet to understand how to run a business in a high inflationary market.7 mins Warren talks about the importance of a return to growth of live events and hospitality for PR.9 mins Warren outlines the implications of Rish Sunak’s change to entrepreneurs' tax law for PR entrepreneurs looking to sell their business.10 mins How is W defining the metaverse and what is the metaverse opportunity for PR firms?14 mins Is the metaverse just another channel?16 mins “Once the new generation of hardware launches, and is adopted, we’ll see scale.”17 mins What does a PR agency's metaverse strategy need to look like?

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.This is a quick bonus pod - we’re chatting to Andrew Bloch about PR Pitches and merger & acquisition trends in the UK PR scene. Andrew is a co-founder and Non Executive Director at Frank PR and is now Head of PR at the new business consultancy firm AAR. He is also a partner at PCB Partners where he advises on buying and selling marketing services agencies. The shortlist for The PRmoment Awards is now out, so do get your tickets for the awards nights, all the details are on the homepage of the PRmoment Awards micrositeFinally, thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Andrew and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discuss:1 min What are the biggest and the most significant pitches you've seen over the last few months?4 mins How many agencies should be involved with a pitch?5 mins A discussion of Next Fifteen’s acquisition of Engine MHP Mischief7 mins “The M&A market is as busy as it’s ever been - it’s extremely buoyant”9 mins Who’s buying and who’s selling?“Private equity has been prolific in (PR) acquisitions”12 mins”12 mins “Some of the valuations are eyewatering”14 mins What ratio of profit are PR firms currently selling for?“There are buyers for everything”

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.This week we’re chatting to Lara Gould about whether journalists make good PR people. Lara used to work at The Mail On Sunday and the Sunday Mirror. In 2014 she left journalism for PR and set up Goldbug Communications in 2016.For those of you that don’t know, Goldbug is a brand communication consultancy with revenue of £2.7 million.The shortlist for The PRmoment Awards is now out, so do get your tickets for the awards nights, all the details are on the homepage of the PRmoment Awards microsite.Do take a look at PRmoment’s Patron Scheme. We have three different Patron Tiers—The Daney Parker Tier, The Chadlington Tier and Edward Bernays Tier.Finally, thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Lara and PRmoment founder Ben Smith talked about:2 mins Why did Sara leave journalism to work in PR?4 mins There seems to be quite a bit of resentment in the PR sector when a top journo makes the move and gets a top PR/comms job. Is that resentment is fair?6 mins Why would a journalist understand how to manage a brand's reputation?12 mins Should all PR teams have an ex-journalist in them?13 mins Why Lara believes a journalist's skills for pubic relations need not be focused on the media relations channel, they should be insight related.14 mins and 18 mins What mistakes do journalists who make the move from journalism to PR make?15 mins Ex journos often get lots of coverage for their clients when they make the move into PR - but do they get the right sort of coverage?21 mins Lara talks about the challenges she faced as an ex-journalist launching a PR business“I had to learn the career at the same time as learning to run a business”

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.This week we’re chatting to Kat McGettigan, founder of Fine Lines.Kat describes Fine Lines as an “agency-growth agency.” Previously she worked at Grayling, M&C Saatchi and Weber Shandwick.On the show, we talk about how agencies can improve their pitch techniques but we’re also going to take a step back and look at the broader area of growth strategies for PR firms.The shortlist for The PRmoment Awards is now out, so do get your tickets for the awards nights, all the details are on the homepage of the PRmoment Awards microsite.Do take a look at PRmoment’s Patron Scheme. We have three different Patron Tiers—The Daney Parker Tier, The Chadlington Tier and Edward Bernays Tier.Finally, thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Kat and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:2 mins How can a PR agency set itself up to grow? 5 mins What are the key elements of a successful pitch from an agency's perspective?7 mins What is a good win rate for agencies when pitching?7.30 mins When should an agency go for a pitch out of its comfort zone?“Two or three people should own the pitch…and mustn’t pass the batten.”9 mins When can a transformational pitch win enable an agency to invest in its team and its skills?10 mins “Pitching is like dating”11 mins How to create that winnable chemistry with a potential client13.30 mins “If you don’t know anyone on the buy-side you are very unlikely to win it.”16 mins What’s the difference between a tissue and a chemistry session?17.30 mins “We’ve all become too subservient”19 mins How to prep for the pitch?“We’ve all got too beholden to decks!”20 mins Why you must not create a frankendeck20.30 mins What is the role of a pitch doctor?21 mins How many pitch rehearsals should you have?26 mins Why you should always try and have the pitch at the agency’s office.29 mins “It blows my mind that so much effort is put into producing all these pitch ideas that are hardly ever used”34 mins How reliable is a pitch process in finding a client: agency match? Are there better ways?38 mins Currently, what percentage of pitches are face-to-face compared to virtual?39 mins Why is a hybrid pitch the hardest of the lot!40 mins Let’s talk about procurement! Is this where a lot of smaller and medium-sized agencies start to struggle? 42 mins Kat’s guide to dealing with procurement!49 mins Will paid-for pitches ever be common in PR? 52 mins Kat’s red flags for agencies of when to walk away from a pitch?“It does pay to be a nice person to work for!”

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.This week we’re chatting to Anna Geffert, founder of Hera Communications. Anna is the current President of Women in PR and we’re talking to her today about the 60th Anniversary of Women in PR.The organisation was founded in 1962 and on the show today we’re going to discuss how it started and how it’s changed over the last 60 years.As you’ve probably seen, the shortlist for The PRmoment Awards is now out, so do get your tickets for the awards nights, all the details are on the homepage of the PRmoment Awards microsite.Do take a look at PRmoment’s Patron Scheme. We have three different Patron Tiers—The Daney Parker Tier, The Chadlington Tier and Edward Bernays Tier.Finally, thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a flavour of what Anna and PRmoment founder Ben Smith talked about:1.30 mins Anna talks us through when was WIPR formed, by who and why.4 mins How have the objectives of Women in PR changed over the last 60 years?6 mins What progress has been made to increase the number of women in senior positions in public relations?10 mins We test Anna’s knowledge: with a timeline of the history of Women in PR.11.30 min Why Sue Hardwick and Angela Oakes had to save the WIPR as an organisation in 2012.14 mins Anna tells us why she volunteers her time to lead Women in PR22 mins The trend of women-led PR start-ups during lockdown24.30 mins When the past presidents get together to compare notes - what are the themes and challenges that have come, gone and remained over the generations?28 mins Women in PR only has 260 members in the UK, why is that?29.30 mins What are the challenges for younger women working in PR at the moment?

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.This week we’re talking to Louise Turner, managing director at Edelman Data & Intelligence, about the UK results of The Edelman Trust Barometer 2022.Before we start just to say tickets for the PRmoment Awards have now gone on sale. They will be the first PRmoment face-to-face awards since 2019! Thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Louise and I chatted about:3 min What are the top trends coming out of the UK results of the Edelman Trust Barometer this year?4 mins Why the UK now has a record trust gap between high and low-income groups.5 mins The impact of Partygate: Louise talks us through the differences in the trust in the UK Government from Nov 2021 to Jan 2022 results.6 mins In November 2021, the UK Government had a trust score of 42%. In January this dropped to 29%—the lowest score for the UK Government in a decade.7 mins Louise explains how The Trust Barometer has picked up growing consumer cynicism around purpose and greenwashing this year.10 mins Louise talks us through the 2022 and 2021 year on year trust scores for the Government, employers, the media, business and NGOs.17 mins Louise talks through the trend of trust increasing the more local, or the more personal the institution. 18 mins Why is ‘your employer’ by miles the most trusted institution?19 mins What are the 2021 and the 2022 trust scores for the different media channels?22 mins Traditional media, including broadcast and online, has had a very good year, trust wise. In that sense, it won the trust league this year?26 mins What’s a good trust score and what’s a bad trust score? (A score of below 50% is mistrusted and a score of over 50% is trusted.)

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.This week we’re chatting to Will Sturgeon, head of content and thought leadership at PwC UK about its CEO Report.PwC’s 25th Annual CEO Report reveals a growing trend towards more purposeful business practices, including a greater focus on trust, transparency and personal accountability from CEOs on issues such as climate change and inequality. These are all issues where the contribution of the PR and communications team should be critical, so we invited Will on the show to talk us through the key issues from this report from a PR and comms perspective.The UK data of PwC’s 25 Annual CEO Report is based on a survey of 177 UK CEOs conducted 6 October - 12 November 2021.Before we start just a reminder, if you haven’t got your ticket already, do check out PRmoment’s next webinar on PR Analytics. We’ve got the top experts on to talk you through the key issues of the intersection of PR and data. Tickets are only £45 + vat, it’s a great format where you’ll get useful information and insight in a non-patronising tone!Thanks to a couple of new PRmoment Patrons. First up Nigel Sarbutts from the PR Cavalry who’s joined as a Daney Parker Tier Patron and thanks also to Darryl Sparrey from Hard Numbers who is signed up as an Edward Bernays Tier Patron.Thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Will and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed on the show:3 mins What are the top CEO concerns at the moment, according to the report?4 mins “CEOs are very concerned about any issues that are going to limit their ability to hire. ”4.30 mins “There’s a greater commitment to purpose and conversations about ESG because they (CEOs) recognise that’s important when they go to the market and compete for talent.”8 mins CEOs are pretty confident about future economic growth, both in the UK and globally.11.30 mins What do CEOs want from their PR and comms teams?12 mins “Comms professionals need to be more demanding of the brands they work for.”13.30 mins Why talking about something publicly is a key part of accountability for businesses.15 mins CEOs are very aware of the need for authenticity—there was an anti-greenwashing theme throughout the interviews in the report.16.30 mins How successful have CEOs been in building trust with their stakeholders in the last few years?20 mins How has the role of the CEO changed?24 mins “Purpose used to be an area of differentiation…it’s now moving to an area of expectation.” 25 mins Are the trends around CEOs prioritising purpose and ESG global? 26.30 mins Are we likely to see a different type of CEO in the future?

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.This week we’re chatting to Marcus Gault, managing director UK and Ireland of Onclusive.Dare I say many of you may not be aware but Onclusive is the new name for the Reputation Intelligence division of Kantar that was recently acquired by Symphony Technology Group.Onclusive has over 9,000 clients, across 130 markets and over 1,100 employees. So it’s a big beast in the PR measurement and evaluation game.Before we start, just to tell you about PRmoment’s new Patron Scheme. If you are a regular consumer of our content, including this podcast, and you’re getting value from it, if you fancy making a contribution to help fund PRmoment, now you can.We have three different Patron Tiers—The Daney Parker Tier, The Chadlington Tier and Edward Bernays Tier.Also, thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Marcus and PRoment founder Ben Smith spoke about:1.30 mins Is there a difference between the data and insight demands of your agency clients and your in-house/corporate clients?3.30 mins Most data suppliers use a mix of human and automated (AI) analysis these days. Marcus talks us through the pros and cons of each approach.“The sweat spot is a hybrid approach: you use AI to do the heavy lifting but then you sample code with people a proportion of the coverage to get the deeper insight.”7.30 mins Do companies like Onclusive tend to supply the raw data or do you interpret it? How do you see yourselves these days, as data providers or insight consultants?9.30 mins Is the measurement of PR and comms always likely to be imperfect? Just because PR and comms is nearly always part of an integrated marketing strategy?13 mins Marcus talks about how he’d advise the measurement of a consumer campaign.15 mins And he compares that to how he’d suggest measuring a firms reputation, so corporate PR.18 mins “The key insight is what is hurting and what is helping your reputation.”19.30 mins Measurement professionals working in the PR and comms sector spend a lot of time talking about outcome measurement. But not many PR campaigns measure their outcomes. Why is that? Is outcome measurement a false hope?20.30 mins The integrated nature of most marketing campaigns makes outcome measurement difficult.PR and comms is not in isolation much of the time.21.30 mins “I would advise PR and comms professionals to clearly define what they are trying to achieve in their comms activity, and then identify what sources of data they might have access to that will help them understand the impact of that work.”23 mins Don’t forget: our colleagues/rivals (?) in marketing may have bigger budgets but they also struggle to measure the impact of their integrated campaigns.23.30 mins What are the most popular measurement KPIs for Onclusive’s clients?26.30 mins They’ll be a section of listeners of this podcast who are part of PR’s measurement clan. Marcus gives us an update on why, having left the sector for a few years, he’s been tempted back!

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.This week we’re talking to Jon Rhodes, partner at BOLDT about what the important data points behind an organisation’s reputation are.BOLDT and Mettle Capital recently released their Trust in 2021 report.The report analysed more than 40 million conversations and pieces of content across more than 2,500 companies.Before we start, just to tell you about PRmoment’s new Patron Scheme. If you are a regular consumer of our content, including this podcast, and you’re getting value from it, if you fancy making a contribution to help fund PRmoment - now you can.We have three different Patron Tiers—The Daney Parker Tier, The Chadlington Tier and Edward Bernays Tier.Finally, thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Jon and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:2 mins Jon explains how, with this research, like many PR people before him, he’s trying to put some science into reputation management and corporate PR.3.30 mins “I was fed up of having the worst looking slides in the management pack”.5 mins Why integrating bug data is the best way to understand the success of corporate PR and reputation management.5.30 mins Jon talks about how this Trust Report uses a big data approach and is then curated against 3 standatised models: An ESG model based on SASB, The World Economic Forum’s Trust Model and a reputation model. 6.30 mins Jon explains where the source data is taken for this report.9 mins What, according to this research, are the important numbers behind an organisation's trust?10 mins This is a 10 year data set so Jon talks about some long term reputational trends.13 mins Many people believe public relations has a measurement problem, but corporate PR has never really tried to measure its impact, has it?BS: “I know corporate PR people who have never considered the idea of measuring their impact”.17 mins Jon talks about the potential of using this data set to model and predict reputation fluctuations, specifically related to ESG data which is currently not sufficiently robust.18 mins Jon reveals the correlation between reputation and share price: apparently “a good reputation precedes share price by about 3 months.” (Depending on the company and the sector!)23 mins Jon discusses the 2 most dominant issues impacting trust: problem solving and the CEO.28 mins The implications of this big data approach to measuring reputation and corporate PR.If you’d like a copy of the report email jon.rhodes@boldtpartners.com.

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.This week we’re chatting to Graz Belli, Co-Founder of Third City. Third City has a fee income of about £2.5 million and grew by 20% in 2021. It was founded 11 years ago. Third City sees itself as a corpsumer PR firm, offering both brand and reputational advice.Clients include the likes of BUPA, Starling, Zurich and G-Network.Previously Graz was managing director of Band & Brown. Before we start, just to tell you about PRmoment’s new Patron Scheme. If you are a regular consumer of our content, including this podcast, and you’re getting value from it, if you fancy making a contribution to help fund PRmoment, now you can.We have three different Patron Tiers—The Daney Parker Tier, The Chadlington Tier and Edward Bernays Tier.Thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Graz and Ben Smith talked about:2 mins Graz’s Italian parents moved to Wales to find work and she grew up living above a fish and chip shop in Newport. Graz is now a co-owner of a successful PR business which is a nice story. I asked Graz what 10-year-old Graz would have thought about it all?4 mins The importance of role models and resilience in entrepreneurship.5 mins Graz talks about why her work passion is the planning and strategy side of PR.8 mins Graz reveals her Myers Brigg colour!11 mins How do you maximise the likelihood that a campaign is going to have an impact?13 mins How PR planning has evolved but it’s still a mix of art and science.15 mins What percentage of PR campaigns actually create behaviour change? 17 mins Why “PR is the most persuasive part of the marcomms mix”18 mins Graz joined Band & Brown in the early 90s as an account exec and became the managing director. What was it about Band & Brown that made it such an iconic agency of the 1990s?20 mins Graz talks about the sprinkling of ex Brand & Brown people around the PR sector.21 mins Graz reveals the reasons behind the rapid fall of Band & Brown.23 mins Why did Graz decide to launch Third City with Mark Lowe and Gill Brown?26 mins A discussion of whether brand comms and corporate comms have not always needed to be aligned? Has anything really changed?29 mins What contribution do you think PR and comms people should make to a firm's ESG strategy?32 mins How has the work of PR agencies changed during the pandemic?36 mins Graz talks about her role as a mentor of Women in PR and what she believes can be done to help women who work in PR thrive.38 mins “Why we need to redefine what’s meant by great leadership and performance.”40 mins Graz tells us about why she’s recently started training for a marathon!

This week, on the PRmoment podcast, we’re discussing a new report called Brands & Movements by Alfred which looks at how businesses face increasing pressure to act on issues impacting consumers, and asks what the pitfalls are for businesses engaging with these movements. In short, we’re going to be discussing whether society’s expectations of business have changed?On the show to discuss this is Alfred MD, Dan Neale.Before we start, just a shout out to our latest PRmoment Patron Nigel Sarbutts who is a Daney Parker Tier Patron.Details of PRmoment’s new Patron Scheme are on the PRmoment.com homepage. We have three different Patron Tiers—The Daney Parker Tier, The Chadlington Tier and Edward Bernays Tier.As a new patron, you will be thanked on the PRmoment Podcast and you can email us a question that we'll discuss with our next guest.Also, don’t forget The PRmoment Awards final entry deadline is coming up, you’ve got until 28th January to get your entries in.Finally, thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Dan and I talked about: 2 mins Dan takes us through Alfred’s Brands & Movement research and its key findings.4 mins “Purpose and profit go hand in hand, it’s not mutually exclusive.”6 mins How should brands decide which issues they should engage with?10 mins How do Millennials and Gen Z consumers react to brands that don’t engage on issues that are important to them?11 mins Are brands over-indexing on creating marketing moments at the expense of longer-term marketing KPIs?13 mins To what extent do consumers make a purchasing decision based on brand values?14 mins We’ve seen purpose in the news this week with investor Terry Smith criticising Unilever’s Hellmans Mayonnaise - to what extent is purpose about a company's moral compass and to what extent is it about increasing sales? 16 mins How can companies gain the trust of consumers?17 mins Dan runs us through the top 5 themes that are important for a consumer when assessing a brand's purpose.21 mins Which companies are getting this right at the moment? 22 mins Dan talks us through the 4 pillars that make up a movement—leadership and culture, commitments, shared values and sustained action.24 mins What are the stages for an organisation becoming part of a movement?

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.This week we’re chatting to Jo-ann Robertson, partner and CEO, London at Ketchum and Janita Lakhanpal, director of business development at Ketchum about “How to build a diverse PR agency”It’s a journey Jo-ann and Janita started back in 2018 and I thought it would be interesting to ask them on the show to chat about their experience of building a more diverse organisation.Before we start, just to tell you about PRmoment’s new Patron Scheme. If you are a regular consumer of our content, including this podcast, and you’re getting value from it, if you fancy making a contribution to help fund PRmoment - now you can.We have three different Patron Tiers—The Daney Parker Tier, The Chadlington Tier and Edward Bernays Tier.Also, The PRmoment Awards final entry deadline is coming up. You’ve got until 28th January to get your entries in.Finally, thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Jo-ann, Janita and I spoke about:2 mins Why did Jo-ann decide that diversity and inclusion was an important objective for Ketchum UK when she became UK CEO?4 mins Many agencies want to recruit more diverse teams but say the talent is not out there - why does Jo-ann think that’s “bullshit”?7 mins Janita talks about starting the process of increasing the diversity of Ketchum UK and the role of Creative Equals in helping Ketchum through that journey.9 mins Janita talks about Ketchum’s D&I roadmap.“There was stuff in the staff survey that was horrifying, especially when you’re a business you think is driven by equity, equality, kindness and generosity.” 10 mins How Ketchum shared the results of Creative Equals 2018 survey “warts and all” with its employees in London.12 mins What were the critical changes Ketchum made in response to the D&I data they got back from the Creative Equals survey.16 mins Where do organisations need to start if they want to increase the number of diverse employees in their workforce.17 mins Why “the rewiring of Ketchum’s recruitment strategy made everyone in Ketchum’s life more difficult.”20 mins “Years 2018, 2019, 2020 were really about the foundation and infrastructure…internally focussed…2021 was a transformational year we went from the leadership team having to drive it to…the demand for progress and change was coming from the grassroots (of the business.)”27 mins Jo-ann talks us through Ketchum’s This Is Me education programme.29 mins For any PR agencies looking to go on a similar journey, Jo-ann and Janita talk about their approach to the key challenges to improving a business’s approach to D&I: CultureOrganisation structureClient workClients33 mins “My biggest piece of advice would be to get an external partner, in the early days we could not have done this without Creative Equals.”38 mins When asked about Ketchum's plans for 2022: “This is a job that will never be done.”

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.It’s a weighty topic this week - on the show we’re going to be looking at some new research from Golin called The Polarisation Index.This research looks to investigate which topics polarisation society. Has modern society become more about affirming our own views, rather than exposing ourselves to different perspectives?To talk to us about this we’ve got Jonny Bentwood, global head of data & analytics at Golin.Before we start, just to tell you about PRmoment’s new Patron Scheme. If you are a regular consumer of our content, including this podcast, and you’re getting value from it, if you fancy making a contribution to help fund the PRmoment - now you can.We have three different Patron Tiers—The Daney Parker Tier, The Chadlington Tier and Edward Bernays Tier.Also, The PRmoment Awards final entry deadline is coming up, you’ve 28th January to get your entries in.Finally, thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Jonny and PRmoment’s Ben Smith discussion on this week’s show:1.30 mins How does this research change our thinking about how people are forming their views in modern society?“We’ve lived in a perfect storm to create polarisation (in society)...Extreme views in the past would have been talked down by friends and family but recently they’ve found affirmation online and where previously they were a minority, (online) they are a majority…People are living in echo chambers which are reaffirming their views.”3 mins Why COVID has accelerated the polarisation of society.“Polarisation is a critical communications problem”4 mins Jonny talks us through the implications of the research for communicators.5.30 mins How do the topics that cause polarisation change over time and between geographies?7 mins Jonny takes the polarising topic of immigration and talks us through how it polarises opinion amongst different groups through different types of media.8.30 mins and 10 mins Why some polarisation topics are unilateral, some are bilateral and some are variable.9.30 mins The rise of conflict entrepreneurs - who are making money stoking tribalism within society.10 mins When you have a score of 90 or above, it’s referred to as “Danger Territory” in terms of the likely impact of this extreme polarisation on people’s behaviour. 12 mins Polarisation is not a short term trend and companies will have to engage in topics that have become polarised.14 mins How does this report measure polarisation within different media outlets and different topics.15 mins Why the most popular topics are not the most polarising. How do people behave when they see content they either don’t or do agree with? 16 mins Jonny runs us through the 10 most polarising topics.19 mins Is polarisation a communication problem or a societal problem? Do we still, as a society, believe in facts?

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.On the show this week we’re going to be talking about whether undiagnosed cases of the menopause are partly responsible the number of women aged 45+ leaving a career in PR.We’ve got Dr Clare Spencer from My Menopause Centre and Jo Carr, co-founder Hope&Glory on the podcast to talk to us about what the symptoms of the menopause are, why it is so often misdiagnosed and how employers can support their staff through this stage of their lives.If you’re a woman approaching the menopausal age, or you’re going through it at the moment, I suspect Jo and Dr Clare may have some interesting insights for you.Some background for you:8 in 10 women will experience symptoms of the menopause…Women have an average of 7 symptoms, with symptoms usually lasting 4 years, but can last for up to 12 yearsSymptoms include difficulty concentrating, forgetfulness, fatigue, depression and low self esteem4 in 10 women say the menopause had a negative impact on their work lives.PRCA data suggests that 67% of PR professionals in the UK are female while Women in PR’s research suggests that less than one third of boardroom positions in PR and Comms are taken by women.It’s clear that the public relations is losing far too many highly skilled women from the sector and better diagnosis and treatment of the menopause, and its sympoms, is likely to make a contribution to slowing this trend.In addition to her position at My Menopause Centre, Dr Clare is also a practising GP and currently runs an NHS menopause service.Before we start, I’d like to tell you about PRmoment’s new Patron Scheme which I’m very excited about. Details are on the PRmoment.com homepage but if you are a regular consumer of our content, including this podcast, and you’re getting value from it, if you fancy making a contribution to help fund the magazine - now you can.We have three different Patron Tiers—The Daney Parker Tier, The Chadlington Tier and Edward Bernays Tier.As a new patron, you will be thanked on the PRmoment Podcast and you can email us a question that we'll discuss with our next guest.  Also, as Jo will be very aware, the PRmoment Awards early deadline is coming up, you’ve got until 17th December for the reduced rate and then 28th Jan for the normal entry price.Finally, thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Jo Carr and Dr Clare Spencer welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.4.30 mins Dr Clare talk us through why the menopause is frequently misdiagnosed.6.30 mins Jo Carr talks about how many women we are likely to be losing from public relations due to undiagnosed cases of the menopause. 7.30 mins How much of the trend of women leaving a career PR early is about ageism in PR?9 mins Jo talks about her own experience of outing herself as a PR person in her fifties.11 mins Dr Clare talks about the symptoms of the menopause.13 mins Dr Clare talks about the problem of women being given anti-depressants for menopausal symtoms, instead of HRT.15 mins Dr Clare talks about Hormone Replacement Therepy (HRT) as a treatment for the menopause.17 mins There is an acute talent shortage in public relations at the moment. Jo talks about why losing talented, intelligent women from PR is so frustrating.20 mins How can we normalise conversations about the menopause in the workplace? And what polici

Welcome to this week’s PRmoment Podcast.On the show we have Damon Statt and Gemma Moroney, co-founders of SHOOK.Shook was founded in June 2020, just a few months after the start of the first lockdown. In its first year they had a fee income of £335K and they are on target to hit £600K in the second trading year.Damon and Gemma have worked together since 2006—firstly at Frank, then at Mischief before they decided to co-found their own business in 2020.Hope&Glory have a minority stake in Shook. Shook recently won Creative Moment’s New Agency of the Year for 2021.And thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Damon and Gemma talked about:1.30 mins How did Gemma and Damon meet in 2006?3.30 mins Why was there a bit of a follow Frankie Cory triangle going on there in about 2014?!5 mins Damon and Gemma joined Mischief after Mitch Kaye and Dan Glover had left. How did they stabilise that business after two huge personalities left?7 mins How do you fill the gap left by the founders of a PR firm when they leave? 8 mins Is it true that Gemma and Damon have been thinking about setting up a business together for 10 years?!8.30 mins Do they regret not setting up a business together earlier?10 mins Why did Damon and Gemma decide to go into business with James Gordon Macintosh and Jo Carr at Hope&Glory rather than going it alone?13 mins Gemma says one of the most beneficial elements of the investment from Hope&Glory has been being able “to see H&G from the inside.”17 mins Gemma and Damon talk us through the reality of launching a business right in the middle of the COVID lockdowns.21 mins Why, when you launch a business, your network isn’t quite as useful as you think it’s going to be!23 mins Is PR a nicer, more collaborative sector than it used to be?25 mins Gemma talks us through behavioral design theory which guides much of Shook's approach to its work.27 mins What are the plans for Shook then? How big do Gemma and Damon want it to get?

On the PRmoment podcast this week we’re talking about the lack of working class people working in public relations in the UK. In an attempt to increase the opportunities for working class people in PR Sarah Waddington and Stephen Waddington have launched Socially Mobile.Socially Mobile is a not for profit that offers training to people with a 1 to 3 years’ PR experience to turbo charge their careers.It deliver trainings to those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, as well as under-represented and under-served groups including black, Asian and ethnic minority practitioners, women returners and those with disabilitiesThe eventual aim of the organisation is to increase the amount of talent from lower income backgrounds and under-represented groups to make the public relations sector more representative and diverse.Before we start, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.For those observant amongst you, you’ll have noticed The PRmoment Awards 2022 have now opened for entries. Take a look at the home page of the awards microsite for more information on the categories and the entry deadlines.Here’s a summary of what Sarah, Stephen and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed: 2 mins What are the demographic imbalances that the public relations sector in the UK faces?3 mins Sarah refers to the Social mobility in the creative economy: Rebuilding and levelling up? report.6.30 mins How does Socially Mobile aim to help increase the number of people from low socio economic background working in PR?8 mins “We’ve built a 10 week exec program with a combination of formal and reflection learning, with 7 compulsory modules and a series of voluntary modules suited to the individual practitioner that will help people make that transition”9 mins Why you can also buy a place on Socially Mobile, in addition to the “free” places.16 mins Why Socially Mobile is not trying to increase the number of working-class or minority groups that enter the sector, it is concentrating on helping them grow their skills, get promoted and stay in the sector.19 mins Does public relations have a retention problem or a recruitment problem amongst working-class people and minority groups?25 mins How does Socially Mobile compare and integrate with some of the other schemes and organisations that are out there that aim to increase the diversity of the PR sector, namely Blueprint, The PRCA’s Apprenticeship Scheme, Black Comms Network, The Taylor Bennett Foundation and People Like Us?30 mins How can people get involved with Socially Mobile, either for a free place, a paid for place, or to fund other people in the scheme?

On the PRmoment podcast this week we talk about The Boris Phenomenon: Why don’t scandals, seemingly broken promises and political failings seem to affect Boris’s popularity in the same way other politicians would suffer.Here with me to discuss this is public affairs grandee Lional Zetter who has been a member of the Conservative Party for 30 years and long time, but now retired, PR Agency Dr - Richard Houghton. Richard is a member of the Liberal Democrats and I think it’s fair to say is currently somewhat bemused by UK politics.For context, despite the controversy around Brexit, the difficulties of the last 2 years of leading the country through the COVID pandemic, and a decent number of gaffs and controversy since he became PM in 2019, the Tories have a 1 point lead according to Opinium’s latest poll. Boris’s approval rating is 30%, compared to Keir Starmer’s at 29%.Boris’s disapproval rating is 50%, compared to Kier Starmer’s at 37%Before we start, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.For those observant amongst you, you’ll have noticed The PRmoment Awards 2022 have now opened for entries. Take a look at the home page of the awards microsite for more information on the categories and the entry deadlines.Lionel and Richard, welcome to the show2.30 mins Lionel on The Boris Phenomenon.3.30 mins Will Boris lead the Tories into the next election?4 mins Is Boris’s teflon coating beginning to scratch?Richard Houghton on The Boris Phenomenon: “His lack of connection with the truth and lack of concern around loyalty make him a highly effective campaigner—look at how he did the Brexit campaign. Almost fact free, appealing to the emotions—he’s damn good at it.”5 mins Is Boris a better campaigner than he is a communicator?Lionel Zetter: “Governing actually bores him, that’s why he doesn’t pay sufficient attention, that’s why he doesn’t do his homework and that’s why he occasionally gets caught out”.5.30 mins Richard Houghton: “The implications of his inability for details are pretty serious. This phenomenon has some pretty rough edges to it.”6 mins Is Boris enjoying his time as Prime Minister?8.30 mins Why Lionel believes Boris is not a Conservative, he’s a libertarian.9.30 mins But why does the UK public not seem to care more about Boris’ indiscretions?11.30 mins “So far Keir Starmer hasn’t been able to deal with Boris.”14 mins Lionel talks us through his “dull: interesting theory” on British Prime Ministers. 16 mins Why even Cummings, once part of Boris’s inner team, can’t land a punch on Boris.17 mins How charisma and self belief are at the heart of The Boris Phenomenon.19 mins Why Boris has changed the rules of politics in the UK.21 mins A charming man but a bad human being?Lionel Zetter: “Politicians on the whole don’t tend to be very nice people.”22 mins Do good people make good Prime Ministers?25 mins What would it take for Starmer to beat Boris at the next election?“The unending, insatiable demands of the National Health Service could cause a rift in The Conservative Party. By the end of this parliament the NHS will take around 44% of government expenditure.”30 mins Is Boris a lucky general?

On the PRmoment podcast this week we talk about The global impact of COVID on the PR sector. Here with me to discuss that is Dr. Pooja Arora from HCL Corporation and Shiv Nadar Foundation in India and Kathryn Lancioni, Instructor of Public Relations at Sefton University in the US.They have recently completed a piece of qualitative research that looks at the impact of the pandemic on the PR industry. The 112 interviews were completed in March to May 2021, so in the midst of the second wave in the US, UK and India. The interviews were with mid-level and senior-level PR practitioners from 16 countries, with the majority of respondents being based in India, the US and the UK.Thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Pooja, Kathryn and PRmoment founder Ben Smith spoke about.2 mins Why did Kathryn and Pooja decide to undertake this research?3 mins What are the top 3 findings from the research?5 mins Why many PR people were more in demand during Covid than previously.6 mins Why the pandemic brought the themes of ESG and purpose to the fore.7 mins Why, as brand marketing budgets reduced in the pandemic, PR had to take up the story for organisations.10 mins Did the pandemic actually make many PR/journo relationships closer?11 mins Brands were looking for storytellers across all channels and platforms through the pandemic and this saw PR increase its breadth of work.14 mins Why the press release re-covered some of its importance during the pandemic.16 mins A discussion of the different drivers and influence patterns across the world.19 mins Was the rise of corporate PR a global or regional trend during the pandemic?21 mins Are more of the C-suite understanding the importance of reputation?24 mins Has COVID changed the balance of power between the PR dept and the marketing department?25 mins “We’ve become a society of learning how to skip ads”

On the show is Debby Penton, managing director of Wildfire. Wildfire is an independent tech PR firm with a fee income of £2.7m and 25 employees. Thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Also, do please make a note that the PRmoment Awards 2022 have now opened for entries.Here’s a flavour of what Debby and I discuss:1.30 mins Debby describes how, in her first-ever job, she wasn’t allowed to wear trousers! 3 mins Debby explains why she loved working at Banner PR.5 mins Debby talks about why she would never want to work for a firm that is owned by a private equity firm—or one that is run by accountants.8 mins Debby discusses how her time at Wildfire seems to fit into 3 stages: Stage one was when Debby and Lorraine Jenkins formed a good partnership, grew the business and, (her words, not mine!) "took turns to have kids."9 mins Stage 2 of Wildfire: Debby talks about the growth of the business up to about £1m and the merger with EML to create EML Wildfire.12 mins Stage 3 saw Debby and Andrew Shepherd buy the business from Richard Parker. Debby talks us through the structure of the deal.16 mins The deal was completed in early 2020 just before COVID hit. Debby talks about the implications of that on the business.17 mins Debby gives her thoughts on what modern PR employees want.18 mins Debby explains why she has just started a masters degree in behavioural science.

Welcome to this week’s PRmoment Podcast.On the show this week we’ve gone back to our roots and, honestly these are my favourite shows, we’re going back to our life stories theme.On the show is Martin Bostock, co-founder of Nelson Bostock and later Fever PR.Martin retired from PR in 2015 but I’ve always wanted to get him on the show because his is such an interesting story, which I’ve no doubt will resonate with many of our listeners today.Martin co-founded Nelson Bostock in 1987 with Roger Nelson and sold it in 2003 to Creston for £6.2 million when the turnover was £5.2m.Martin left Nelson Bostock in 2015 when the turnover was £11.3m. So he stayed long beyond his three and a half year earn-out. And today we’re going to talk through that cycle of growth, the sale and the earn-out stage, alongside, no doubt, a bunch of other tangents that Martin will take us down!Thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Martin and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:2.30 mins Martin and Ben agree that life gets serious at 30! 3.30 mins Martin tells us why he and his bandmates turned down a record deal - and ended up regretting it!6 mins Martin tells us how he first met Roger Nelson at a bar on Fleet Street.7 mins In his youth, Martin describes himself as a “left-wing firebrand socialist.” Has that changed?9.30 mins Martin describes how Nelson Bostock started as “a bit of a punt.”11 mins Martin describes how Roger and Martin both put their houses on the line when launching Nelson Bostock - a decision he describes as “insane.”13 mins Martin talks us through the growth phase of Nelson Bostock pre-sale. 14 mins Why winning Toshiba as a client was transformational for Nelson Bostock.15 mins “You need a bit of luck in life.” 16 mins Martin talks us through how he and Roger sold Nelson Bostock.19 mins Martin says: “We never dreamed that we’d have anything anyone wanted to buy. For us, it felt miraculous…we never thought it would happen.”20 mins Martin reveals what it was that made Nelson Bostock attractive to the big PR groups who, at the time, were “years behind.”22 mins Why do PR firms come out of tough financial times pretty well?23 mins Martin tells us how one morning when he first received a letter from the chief exec of Creston asking if he’d like to sell Nelson Bostock, he threw the letter in the bin! Only to get it out of the bin that lunchtime!24 mins Why Martin and Roger turned down Creston’s first offer.25 mins Why Martin and Roger gave away over 30% of the business to key employees, before they sold it to Creston.30 mins Most founders leave at the end of their earn-out but Martin stayed for the best part of a decade, despite the fact that he’d made decent money from the sale. Why?33 mins Martin on leaving Nelson Bostock: “It’s difficult to let go of something that’s been part of your life for so long...For me, it would have been awful if I had left one Friday night and never gone back.” 36 mins Martin tells us why he’s now become a magistrate!

This week we’re drilling down into one of our favourite campaigns from 2021. We’re going to look at why a charity called Snow Camp used drill music in its Stop. Breath. Think campaign.On the show to talk us through the campaign is Peter Elms, director at Alpaca Communications, who helped put this campaign together.It’s a really interesting piece of work into how Snow Camp, a charity with a mission to engage young people through skiing and snowboarding, ended up creating a campaign with drill music at its heart.For background, here’s a video of how the drill artist Nito NB worked with Snow-Camp’s mindfulness counsellor Kevin Hempstead to develop the track.And here’s the video of the track:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmoNAH98t_IHere’s a summary of what Peter and I discussed:2 mins Peter talks us through the Stop. Breathe. Think campaign for Snow Camp.3.30 mins How did the connection between mindfulness and drill music come about?4 mins Why the campaign was partly driven by the need for a skiing charity to continue to be able to help young people during lockdown when (obviously) no one could go skiing!5 mins “It’s difficult to (understand) the impact that knife crime, and the fear of it, has on young people.”6 mins Peter talks us through the workshops he ran with young people talking about how their lives are affected by knife crime.10 mins How music, specifically drill music, and mindfulness counselling sessions were two frequent themes from the workshops.11 mins How the clash between violent drill music and non-violent mindfulness made the canvas of a great creative idea.13 mins How did Alpaca find an authentic and credible drill artist to record the track?14 mins What was the role of Linkup TV in the campaign?16 mins How the campaign drove over a thousand mindfulness sessions for young people.21 mins Why this was a PR campaign with very little media relations.

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast. On the show this week it’s the third of our mini-series we’re doing on 'PRs Hybrid Future'.Today we talked to Alice Weightman, founder of Hanson Search about its Future of the Workplace Report. Some headlines from the report:30% of marketing and communications employees question whether their current career is right for them, and are considering alternative paths45% rank ‘team, people and culture’ as most important, followed by flexible working (39%) over competitive salary and bonus as the most important elements of a job package15% of PR employees looking to be able to work abroadHere’s a summary of what Alice and PRmoment founder, Ben Smith, discussed.3 mins Alice talks us through the topline findings of Hanson’s Future of the Workplace Report, including an insight into what PR employers and PR employees are currently thinking! 3.30 mins The lockdown paradox: 58% of PR people believed their productivity had increased during lockdown but 65% believed their mental health deteriorated.4 mins 58% of PR people have missed face-to-face collaboration with their colleagues.6 mins Why 30% of PR respondents to the survey were looking at a complete career change.6.30 mins Only 3% of PR people want to work from the office full time and 41% of PR employees want to decide where they work, week by week.7 mins 62% of PR employees who are thinking of going freelance are female.7.30 mins Culture, team and working benefits are more of a priority than salary for PR employees at the moment.10 mins To what extent has remote working meant PR employees have had to put their career progression on hold?11 mins Why are 30% of PR people considering a total career change?14 mins Is PR’s business success during lockdown one of the main reasons its people have experienced increased mental health challenges?17 mins Is PR about to become a freelance, contract dominated employment market?18 mins Why, when demand outstrips supply in an employment market, the next phase is a big increase in freelance markets.21 mins How do PR employers become a workplace of choice?22 mins The shift in benefits from office-based benefits to lifestyle based benefits.24 mins Does virtual working mean a company slowly erodes? 28 mins Is culture really more important than salary when people are making an employment decision?29 mins What is the current normal signing-on bonus for PR employees?30 mins Is the number of people PR firms need to recruit currently an impossible task? Is it partly because of Brexit, partly because of the growth the sector is going through and partly because of COVID?31 mins Will this all end up in the off-shoring of PR talent?32 mins What is the current returning to office plan in PR?33 mins Is there any consistency in PR’s approach to time in the office?34 mins The power in PR currently rests with the candidates, and that’s not going to change any time soon!35 mins Alice talks about how PR salaries have increased by 20% in the last two years.

For this week's podcast, we’re talking to Howard Kosky, CEO of markettiers.For those of you that don’t know, markettiers is the UK’s largest broadcast PR firm. If you watch or listen to the news in the UK, most days you’re likely to hear a markettiers' campaign or two!Howard’s going to be chatting with us about what broadcast PR looks like as we all continue to emerge from the lockdown years.The broadcast sector, in terms of the number of listeners and viewers, had a remarkable lockdown and on the show we’re going to talk about what opportunities there are for PR people in a refreshed, but evolved, broadcast sector.Here’s a summary of what Howard and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:2 mins Why lockdown meant the number of people listening and watching radio, TV and podcasts increased.4 mins Howard talks us through the different elements of the broadcast sector.5 mins “At the start of 2021 the 6.30 pm regional TV news bulletin on the BBC was the single most watched programme for 2 weeks on daytime television, which shows people's appetite for news at a very local level.”7 mins Why, surprisingly, when you consider the decrease in commuting trends, podcasts also had a good lockdown.8 mins Improvements in technology have helped drive the popularity of podcasts.9 mins “65% of BBC Sounds consumption is live.”10 mins Why is broadcast still such a trusted media compared to other types of media?11 mins “For the average listener the radio presenter is their friend.” 13 mins Why are there more broadcast media PR slots available than ever?14 mins “The pandemic has accelerated the use of technology for broadcast capability. A call can be done on a wifi signal at both ends and the sound quality is great.”15 mins “Any spokesperson, anywhere, globally, at the end of a webcam and a decent signal is available for an interview which means that producers and programmers can access more guests.”17 mins Has there been a shift towards the broadcast media wanting more expert commentators rather than celebrities?20 mins What does a modern broadcast PR campaign look like?23 mins When do you know if you’ve got a campaign that’s right for TV?27 mins Why did some American investors decide there was room in the UK broadcast market to launch GB News? 

The second in our three part mini-series about PR’s hybrid working spectrum, this week we're talking to Rebecca Taylor-Cottle, head of communications, Northern Europe at Citrix about the potential for flexible working to change the landscape of how, and where, people work in PR.Potentially it could mean increased diversity, more older people working in the sector, a less London centric sector and a much easier working environment for parents.Thanks so much, as ever, to the sponsors of the PRmoment podcast, The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Rebecca and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed on The PRmoment podcast.2.05 mins Does allowing employees to work from home increase the diversity of a firm's employees?3 mins “I know a lot of women have left agencies in their early thirties when they decided to start a family just because of the practicalities (of a career in PR), the timings, the commute…”4 mins “I don’t think offering flexibility is ever a bad thing and providing people with more options is always going to attract more people.”5 mins and 9 mins Citrix was founded in 1989 and was “born hybrid.” Rebecca offers some reflections on a business that has a more mature hybrid working programme.6 mins “Leaders need to remember that their preferences are not everybody’s preferences!”7 mins Companies can ignore what their employees want, but then they are likely to have an issue with retention and risk their people going to work for another company that offers them more flexibility.11 mins Is there a danger we end up with a two-tier workforce? One that predominantly works in the office and one that predominantly works from home?12 mins How do we avoid the unspoken perception that if you are in the office more you’re working harder?: Focus on outputs, not presenteeism.15 mins Do Gen Z and millennials want to return to the office? 15.30 mins Citrix’s research suggests that 90 percent of Gen Z and millenials don’t want to return to the office and 46 percent want to work from home all, or most, of the time.17 mins How to retain the learning 'via osmosis' from your colleagues in a virtual environment.20 mins Has a career in PR suddenly become more compatible with being a parent?23 mins Will flexible working see a greater geographical spread of the UK PR scene?24 mins Rebecca gives her top tips for long term flexible working success.27 mins Is the mobile phone the biggest barrier to creating successful work vs home life boundaries?

 In this week's podcast, we’re talking to Imogen Osborne, founder of The Pulse Business about a research project she has undertaken into face-to-face and virtual working environments post-COVID. 2 mins Imogen talks through the results of the latest research looking at the UK PR sector’s current approach to hybrid working.8 mins Is a hybrid model a tougher model to integrate employees than an all-virtual model or an all-in-the-office working model?.9.30 mins PR is not in a bubble in the hybrid working debate - how are other sectors approaching the issue?10 mins Imogen discusses Google’s - working from home pay reduction calculator and compares it to Facebook, Amazon and Deloitte’s complete flexibility approach.15 mins Has working from home had a positive or negative impact on PR people’s mental health?19 mins What are the implications of career development and training in PR of working from home?What have you seen as the biggest challenges of returning to the office? 21 mins Do employees want to work from home, hybrid, or in the office?22 mins “There are some employees who have grown very comfortable with the working from home model and that is hard to let go of.”23 mins Is there an element of being careful what you wish for here? If employees don’t need to be in the office might your employer just as well employ cheaper, highly educated employees from another country?26 mins Office design has changed already—lots of PR firms seem to be taking a members club approach. Is that going to work in reality?28 mins Does the propensity for working from home essentially come down to the length of your commute?30 mins Is the jump to hybrid working a more difficult integration than the one to pure virtual working?

Welcome to the PR Pepper Challenge, produced in association with our good friends at Meltwater.On the show today we've got Bieneosa Ebite, Head of Corporate Communications at Centrica.Bieneosa talks about her role at Centrica, why she loves corporate communications and how PRs diversity stats have not moved in 10 years.The reason we've called this series of interviews The PR Pepper Challenge is that interwoven between my chat with Bieneosa I'll be asking her three PR Pepper Challenge questions. If she gets those questions right, PRmoment’s Ben Smith has to eat one of the chillies and if she gets the questions wrong she has to eat one of them.The peppers are of increasing strength—so we'll begin with mild, move on to medium and finish with hot.Here’s a summary of what Bieneosa and I discussed:Questions:3 mins As host of the newsbants podcast Bienoesa gives us her perspective on the COVID news cycle, including the anti-vaxxers agenda.9 mins The first PR Pepper Challenge (unmissable drama.)13 mins Bieneosa talks about Centrica’s approach to sustainability and ESG communications.18 mins As a comms person what is Bieneosa’s role in Centrica’s ESG strategy?20 mins In the second PR Pepper Challenge we ask Bieneosa how many newsbants podcasts have there been this year?25 mins Why does Bieneosa believe PR’s D&I stats haven’t shifted in the last 10 years?27 mins “I think there’s a real problem with discrimination and racism within the PR industry.”28 mins Here’s the link to an interview we referred to in the show, a PRmoment video interview with Avril Lee discussing the CIPR’s Race in the Workplace: BAME lived experiences in the UK PR industry report.30 mins What would Bieneosa do to tackle PR’s diversity problem?34 mins What does success look like for diversity in PR?38 mins “I’m for quotas. You can’t just have one person, you need a tipping point to change the culture in an organisation...I don’t want my niece to walk into an organisation, like what happened to me. We need to be bolder and more aggressive.”40 mins For the 3rd PR Pepper Challenge, the question we asked Bieneosa when British Gas floated on the London stock market. Did she have to eat the final chilli?

2 mins Dee talks about her 3 year stint as Director of Comms in the Cayman Islands - which included the COVID crisis, an earthquake and the biggest hurricane season on record!6 mins How Dee and her team lead the communications response to a 7.3 Richter scale earthquake.11 mins Dee then talks about the Hurricane Season and the crisis comms required for that!14 mins “In a crisis situation, people can’t work longer than 10 hours. It’s just too intense.”16 mins What is the role of The Government Communication Service? (GCS)?18 mins How the whole of government communications had to work together during the COVID crisis.19 mins Dee talks us how the NHS Weight Loss App has downloaded 1.3 m times, as an example of government communications.22 mins Dee discusses the difficulties of tackling misinformation.24 mins Dee talks about how GCS retains and improves the professional standards of its teams.Helpful resources that Dee refers to include GCS’s Evaluation Framework , The Principles of Behaviour Change Communications and a model called IN CASE which help communicators understand the anticipating unintended consequences.26 mins Dee talks us through the government’s OASIS planning framework.31 mins Dee talks about her time at the Met Office - does she regret staying there for 18 years?

Here is a summary of what Andre and I discussed:2 mins Andre talks us through what this report is all about and the key findings.4 mins Andre discusses the data set behind the report including online articles from 25 UK national and business media from June 2016 to May 2021. 5 mins How and why the space for brands to feature in the media has shrunk.5.30 mins How the overall number of articles in the UK media has reduced by one fifth in 5 years.5 mins How the report also found the number of articles that mention brands has fallen by 28 per cent.7 mins A discussion of how the issues of Brexit and COVID have dominated the media landscape for the last 5 years.10 mins Beyond Brexit and COVID - which issues are dominating the media over the last five years.15 mins What type of content do readers engage with?18 mins What does the report predict about future media coverage of big issues?18.30 mins Why brands will need to engage on the big issues to get media coverage.21 mins Andre summarises what he sees as the report conclusions.

On this week's podcast we’re talking to Jon Gerlis about the CIPR’s 'PR in the Pandemic' report.In terms of the methodology, 1029 people completed the questionnaire between 23 March 2021 and 19 April 2021.The online survey was complemented by ten interviews. The research was carried out by Chalkstream.Thanks so much, as ever, to the sponsors of the PRmoment Podcast The PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Jon and I discussed, alongside some relevant graphs from the report.1 min 40% of people surveyed said COVID had had a positive impact on public relations, versus 29% negative. So the COVID Pandemic has been pretty good for PR? 2 mins What sort of public relations work is more in demand? 4 mins Will public relations be able to retain its expanded breadth of influence?6 mins Why the value of reputation will continue to grow.6.30 mins More than one in five PR practitioners changed their role in the past 12 months, how does that compare to the churn rate in a normal year?7 mins Only 13% of PR people changed jobs because of redundancy.10 mins Surprisingly, the report says only 20% of agencies had a negative financial impact from COVID.12.30 mins Why there’s been a big churn in the client base for agencies in the last 12 months.13 mins Jon talks about the impact of the furlough scheme on PR.18 mins Jon discusses the significant increase in working hours for PR people and the impact of this rise on mental health.29 mins What predictions does the report make about the future of public relations?

On this week's podcast we’re talking to Will Hart, Group Managing Director at Unlimited Communications.Will joined Nelson Bostock in 2011 and became MD in 2020 before taking over the group MD role of Unlimited Communications from Nick Clark in April this year.Unlimited Group is owned by the private equity group DBay Advisors. 150 people work for Unlimited Communications in London, circa 70 for Nelson Bostock, 30 for Fever and 50 for Health Unlimited.For those of you that don’t know, Nelson Bostock is a tech PR firm and Fever is a specialist consumer shop.Nelson Bostock has doubled in size in the last 3 years.Here’s a summary of what Will and I talked about:2 mins Will is a New Zealander who has built a career and a life in London. What brought him to the UK originally?5.30 mins Will talks about the“hardest day” of his life—when he left his life in Israel to build a new life in London.8 mins Will talks about the need “for kids to know that their parents are happy.”10 mins Will talks about his experience as a foreigner trying to build a PR career in London.15 mins Will talks about what a group MD role involves.21 mins Will talks about how to make a big press office work virtually.22 mins Does remote working mean an unavoidable erosion of company culture?25 mins A discussion about how to navigate a PR firm through the balance between remote working, company culture, career development and client needs.33 mins Will talks about what it is like working for a private equity firm.36 mins Is Nelson Bostock the quiet man of tech PR?

Welcome to the PR Pepper Challenge where PRmoment founder Ben Smith interviews leading in-house communicators.On the show this week it’s Jay Ward, director, Ford of Europe product communications.But this is an interview with a twist. Our guests have to agree to take the PR Pepper Challenge when they come on! The challenge involves them answering three questions - if they get the question right Ben Smith has to eat the chilli but if they get the question wrong, our guest has to eat the chilli.The PR Pepper Challenge series of interviews is produced in partnership with Meltwater.Here are the details of what Jay and I talked about:1 min What the PR Pepper Challenge is all about!1.30 mins How the role of a communications director changed during the COVID crisis.3 mins Communications, as a function within a business, relies on collaboration. Jay discusses how virtual working has impacted this.3 mins “The creativity side of communications has been the part that has suffered most” 5 mins “The danger with your commute no being 10 yards is that you’re always at work”7 mins At the start of the COVID lockdowns, to what extent did Jay and his team need to re-understand their audiences and start communicating all over again?9 mins Jay reflects on the drop in car sales during the COVID lockdowns and what that meant for Ford.11 mins The first PR Pepper Challenge question.14 mins Jay talks us through Ford’s media relations approach during the lockdown.18 mins How COVID forced Ford to change its route to market.21 mins Has COVID meant that in-house communicators are more in demand than ever within a business?23 mins Has the sustainability agenda been accelerated because of the COVID crisis?28 mins The second PR Pepper Challenge.32 mins How internal communications has increased in importance during lockdown.33 mins Why “Ford is the largest family company you can think of.”35 mins Jay talks about how the car industry needs to decrease its Co2 emissions and how governments globally are approaching Co2 regulation in different markets.40 mins A discussion as to the extent businesses and brands can step into the trust void that politicians and the media have left open.43 mins The third and final PR Pepper Challenge!

Here's the latest PR Pepper Challenge, produced in association with our good friends at Meltwater.On the show today we've got Kev O'Sullivan, senior partner at Fleishman Hillard on the show.Kev and I are going to be talking about creativity in PR alongside a bunch of other stuff.The reason we're calling this series of interviews The PR Pepper Challenge is that interwoven between the chat around creativity and PR I'll be asking Kev three questions. If he gets those questions right, I have to eat one of these peppers and if Kev gets the questions wrong I'm happy to say he has to eat one of the peppers.The peppers are of increasing strength - so we'll begin with mild, move on to medium and finish with hot.You can watch the video of Kev's  challenge here, and if you missed the first PR Pepper Challenge with Ford's Jay Ward, you can watch it here. Here’s a summary of what Kev and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:1 mins why creatively PR’s had a good lockdown?3 mins To what extent is creativity relevant for corporate and crisis PR?7 mins Has COVID been a bit of a creative leveller?11 mins The first PR Pepper Challenge.14 mins What sort of creative director is Kev? Is he a creative Yoda or is he more about facilitating creativity for others?20 mins Are the best creative directors introverts or extroverts?23 mins The second PR Pepper Challenge 26 mins Does everyone need to be creative in a PR firm?28 mins How to use the Google Sprint model in your approach to creativity.32 mins Why Kev has found his work home at Fleishman.34 mins The third PR Pepper Challenge.

On this week's podcast we’re talking to Giles Peddy who joined Missive last year having previously been at Lewis.We’re talking about Missive’s recent research paper which hypothesizes that brands are over-indexing on lead-gen marketing and under-investing in brand marketing.Before we start, make sure you’ve taken a look at the PRCA’s National Conference which is a face to face event and you can also watch it on a livestream if you prefer.Here is a summary of what Giles and I discussed:1.30 mins Why are marketers over-indexing on-demand generation activity and under-indexing on brand building activity?4.45 mins What happens to an organization's brand and sales if it over-indexes on lead-gen at the expense of the brand?  5.30 mins and 15.15 mins Why lead-gen marketing results in linear returns, you don’t get a multiplier.6.30 mins Why brand building creates demand and lead-gen activity hoovers up that demand.7.30 mins Why only 5-10% of your customers are “in market at any one time”.9 mins Is there a right mix for lead-gen vs brand-building marketing?11 mins What suite of KPIs should marketers use for brand building and lead-gen activity?13 mins Do we have a generation of marketers who only know how to do lead-gen marketing? 17 mins Why the mix of lead-gen and brand marketing activity is different according to the vertical sector.19 mins How do marketers tell their CFO/CMO that although they need more lead-gen, they should do less lead-gen activity?22  mins In reality does most marketing activation not include both lead-gen and brand building?24 mins Giles talks about Microsoft’s brand, product and market capitalisation journey over the last 10 years.If you are interested in more marketing related stories and insight, you can subscribe to Just.Marketing here 

On this week's podcast we’re talking to Scott Wilson, President Europe & Africa at BCW Global.Scott joined BCW in 2010 having previously been at Porter Novelli and Weber Shandwick.He currently leads BCW across Europe and Africa and today we’re going to chat about PR trends post COVID, including what PR clients are currently buying, the resurgence of corporate PR and whether there's a tension between integrated communications and the benefits of skill specialisation in public relations.It’s the return of the champion to the PRmoment Podcast—Scott’s first podcast he did with us remains our most listened to podcast ever! Do make sure you’ve taken a look at the PRCA’s National Conference which is a face to face event and you can also watch it on a livestream if you prefer.It’s a full day conference in London on 8 July exploring communication and influence in a post-pandemic world. Speakers include communications leaders from the likes of Google and IKEA, as well as big names including Alastair Campbell and Sophie Morgan.Tickets available on the PRCA websiteIf you haven't entered yet and you specialise in creative public relations work, the final deadline for The Creative Moment Awards is 8 July. Here’s a summary of what Scott and I discussed:2 mins As of now, which parts of PR are growing and which bits are still a bit slow? 2.30 mins How ESG and purpose are seeing a lot of investment currently, alongside business transformation, especially when related to employee engagement and employee brand.3.30 mins How BCW sees clear evidence that brand marketing spend is ”coming back”.5.30 mins What type of ESG work is BCW working on?7.00 mins Why COVID was the catalyst to increasing PRs importance to organisations.14 mins Is the renaissance of corporate counsel permanent?16 mins Do clients see earned media as more valuable than ever?18.30 mins Thinking about the path to integration, which agencies do you think will win? 20.30 mins How the challenge for the holding companies “is to be able to deliver quality at scale” but also have “passionate specialists” within their businesses.25.30 mins How will the look, feel and skill-set of PR firms post-COVID be different to pre-COVID?26.30 mins Why Scott is concerned about the level of demand for PR talent at the moment - “talent wars are fierce right now!”29.30 mins To what extent have most PR firms already lost office capacity, meaning that people working 5 days a week in the office is now impossible because the office capacity is no longer there?32 mins When assessing the hybrid working policy, what are the factors in that decision-making process?36 mins The merger of Burson and Cohn & Wolfe to form BCW was 3 years ago. Looking back, what were the lessons on how to merge a big global PR firm successfully?40 mins Globally, how have different regions fared since the start of COVID? And what growth trends does Scott predict for the next 12 months?Kind regards,

On this week's podcast we’re talking to Clive Booth, CEO of the ESG Foundation.Clive has worked in a number of agency and in-house roles, including JLL, Lansons and Lewis.He founded the ESG Foundation in March 2020. The foundation exists to focus the attention of organisations on the importance of environmental, social impact and corporate governance behaviours.Do make sure you’ve taken a look at the PRCA’s National Conference which is a face to face event and you can also watch it on a livestream if you prefer.It’s a full day conference in London on 8 July exploring communication and influence in a post-pandemic world. Speakers include communications leaders from the likes of Google and IKEA, as well as big names including Alastair Campbell and Sophie Morgan.Tickets available on the PRCA websiteAlso, for those of you interested in ESG, do take a look at PRmoment’s brand new ESG Awards with categories related to the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals.We’ve talked previously on the podcast about ESG and why it’s important for PR professionals so if you’re interested in hearing more about ESG do have a listen.Here’s a summary of what Clive and I discussed:1.30 mins What is ESG and why is it important?3 mins What is the role of the ESG Report in a company’s approach to ESG?4.30 mins Has ESG killed CSR?6 mins How will purpose and ESG co-exist?10 mins Why ESG enables you to see under the bonnet of an organisation.11.30 mins What is the role of PR and comms people in improving a company’s ESG performance?12 mins “ESG is about numbers, there's no hiding place if you are inaccurately reporting your performance.”13 mins and 16 mins Why the public relations function should be at the heart of the creation of the ESG report.14 mins ESG is an important opportunity for the PR and comms function to demonstrate its strategic value to an organisation.15 mins What does ESG mean for non publicly listed firms?16 mins Who owns ESG within an organisation?17 mins What information and company KPIs need to be in an ESG report?19zmins Are there recognised KPIs for each of the UN’s Sustainability Goals?21 mins How long do ESG reports need to be?22 mins Who reads a company’s ESG report?24 mins Why ESG KPIs are different depending on the sector.24.30 mins Why there’s very little hiding place in an ESG report.25 mins Clive talks us through his favourite examples of ESG reports including Hilton and Emcor Group, Microsoft and Coca Cola.Take a look at the new ESG Awards, with categories linked to the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals. 

On this week's podcast I'm chatting to Rosie Bannister, managing director UK at Axicom and Kate Stevens, president of Europe at AxiCom.Currently the PR world, alongside many other sectors, is trying to figure out the right balance between working from home and office working in a post pandemic world.On the show this week I talk to Rosie Bannister and Kate Stevens about how Axicom has created a culture in which flexible working can thrive.Thanks so much, as ever, to the podcast sponsors, the PRCA.Here’s a summary of what we discussed:0.55 mins Is there such a thing as a flexible working culture? What's different about a flexible working culture to a non-flexible working culture?1.30 mins Why flexible working is not about where you work, it’s about how you work.2 mins Why changing people’s habits is the biggest barrier to flexible working.4 mins Isn’t the reality that employees have actually worked longer hours working from home during lockdown?5.30 mins Companies cannot organise flexible working partners, it’s down to culture and changing the culture of presenteeism.6 mins Why company leaders mustn’t be seen to “be very busy, doing busy things, all the time.”8 mins Why Axicom removed core hours from its employment contracts.10 mins What does Axicom define as intelligent working?12 mins How firms can train their management to encourage flexible working. 13 mins Kate talks us through Axicom’s employee survey data before the intelligent working scheme was launched and after.17 mins Why, with some irony, employees said they needed rules to help them work flexibly.20 mins What guidance is Axicom giving to its employees in terms of how many days they come into the office a week?22 mins Has flexible working impacted Axicom’s Net Promoter Score (NPS) 24 mins Why “timesheets are the biggest challenge to a flexible working policy for an agency.”27 mins How Axicom’s employee data also shows that employees value collaborative time in the office.29 mins Is there a danger that the length of people’s commute will be the dominant driver of how often they come into the office?

On this week's podcast, we talk to Angie Moxham, founder and CEO of The Fourth Angel and Sarah Perry, managing director of The Fourth Angel.Previously, Angie was the founder and CEO of 3 Monkeys which, as many of our readers will know, was sold to Edelman and became part of Zeno.Angie founded The Fourth Angel in March 2019.Sarah joined The Fourth Angel in December 2019 as managing director.The Fourth Angel has a fee income of £1.6m and is described by Angie as a multi-sector, brand consultancy business.2.30 mins Angie talks about why, post her 3 Monkeys Zeno exit, she decided to do it all again and launch The Fourth Angel?5 mins Why Angie is still just trying to please her dad!8 mins Angie talks about why PR firms, for too long, have done management consultancy work for a media relations fee.8.30 mins Why reputation management must “go from boardroom to showroom” within a business.9 mins Sarah talks about why, increasingly, PR firms need to look at consultancy through a “media owner’s lens.”15 mins Angie talks about her ambitions for The Fourth Angel.16 mins Angie talks about Seraphim - The Fourth Angel’s brains trust and the advantages of being an independent firm, compared to a group owned firm.18 mins Angie talks about a couple of agency propositions she is launching in the next few months.20 mins “We’re not a whale, not a shark, we’re a dolphin brand,” claims Angie.21 mins Sarah talks about how affiliate links and e-commerce have the potential to change the consumer publishing model.29 mins Why great campaigns should have earned at the front and centre.30 mins Is The Fourth Angel a PR business?

On the show today I'm talking to Warren Johnson, chairman and founder of W Communications about the state of the UK public relations market at the moment.W had a turnover of £10m in 2020 and despite the COVID economy, it had its most successful H1 ever in the second half of 2020. Warren appointed Rachel Friend as W’s CEO in July 2020, so 9 months in, it seems like a good time to catch up about how things have changed at W.Before we start, just to say thanks so much to the podcast sponsors, the PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Warren and I discuss:1 min Why there’s been a lot of big pitches over the last few months, specifically in Q4 2020.4 mins Why Warren is surprised that more businesses are not seeing now as an opportune time to “land grab” market share.6.30 mins “Advertising/creative agencies modus operandi is to make TV ads and while everyone gave up watching (ads) a few years ago, we’ve suddenly had to because it’s either that or go for a walk.”7 mins “We’ve seen a re-emergence of a newer breed of creative agencies.”9 mins Why W hired a lot of PR people last summer but in a very different way.12 mins Why we’re about to enter a period of wage inflation in PR.13 mins Which clients have W won in the last 6 months?15 mins Warren gives an update on how W has changed since Rachel Friend joined as CEO in July 2020.19 mins Warren talks about W’s M&A strategy, exclusively revealing that W has appointed a head of M&A who has a “long shopping list...and a decent war chest.”20 mins Warren reports on W’s international revenues which are now between 10% and 20% of the business’s revenues.24 mins New York has been a tough place for UK consumer PR shops to launch - why should W be any different?27 mins "PR of all industries thrives on interaction, creativity, collaboration and you just can’t do it on Zoom, I don’t care what anyone says.”28 mins “The idea of having ambitious, high growth businesses, and having it enshrined that people only have to spend half the time in the office, it’s certainly not the way I think we could run our business successfully.”29 mins “We’ll offer more flex on start and leave times, I think that's the thing that will improve people’s lives much more than working from home.”30 mins “There will be several tracks of career development: A lot of people have decided that they like to work from home because it suits their lifestyle...I think that shows a lack of ambition.”“There are other people who thrive on the hustle and bustle of the office and the adrenaline and you can’t replicate that at home, and they are often slightly more ambitious people.”

This week on the PRmoment podcast we're talking to Engine Mischief managing director  Greg Jones about what he sees as the challenges in the consumer PR market at the moment.Thanks so much as ever to the podcast sponsors, the PRCA.Here’s a summary of what Greg and I discussed:1.30 mins Why does Greg believe there is an increasing commoditisation of the consumer PR market in the UK?2.30 mins “People are being driven to set up on their own...and that results in an oversupply of agencies”.3.00 mins Will an oversupply of agencies create commoditisation, drive fees down and result in decreased standards of work?3.30 mins “The rise of procurement, and the KPIs against which procurement are judged, means the costs are being squeezed ever harder.”“The job of top tier agencies such as Mischief is to demonstrate value, not costs”.4.30 mins Bearing in mind the increased role of procurement, to what extent are brands buying value when they hire an agency, and to what extent are they buying costs?6.00 mins “There has to be some happy medium to being commercially competitive and recognising the commercial pressures that our clients are under, while also remaining committed to doing creative, impactful work.”8.00 mins Greg talks us through the negative cycle for employees, clients and agencies of overservicing.9.00 mins How to avoid overservicing in an agency business.11 mins Greg talks about when you have to talk away from business: “Ultimately you have to draw the line somewhere. If they (clients) are willing to compromise on quality in favour of cost...we’re never going to be the cheapest in the market and (I don’t want us) to be the cheapest in the market.”13 mins How the rise of the virtual agency has removed one of the last barriers to entry to the PR agency market - the office.15 mins If you’re buying PR, what are the telltale signs that an agency is trying to cut costs/running at a low margin?17 mins Greg on the confidence of the PR sector at the moment: “Our pipeline is full to bursting.”19 mins Has the type of work that PR agencies are doing changed over the last 12 months?24 mins Greg talks about when Mischief hopes to re-start its experiential work.25 mins How much harder has the COVID dominated news agenda made it to get media cut through?26 mins Have we returned to the pre-COVID world where recruitment is the biggest growth-limiting factor for PR firms?29 mins Will virtual working patterns will make PR firms less fun places to work?32 mins Consumer PR is about culture and the pandemic is potentially going to redefine a lot of the UK’s social culture - so how will consumer PR need to redefine itself?

On the PRmoment podcast this week, I'm talking to Matt Wilcock and Mark Perkins of Cow PR about being a creative director in public relations.10 years ago there weren't many creative directors working in PR but now there are quite a few!In this podcast, we're going to look at the role of the creative director in public relations.Thanks so much to our PRmoment podcast sponsors, the PRCA.Here are summary of what we chatted about:1.00 min Are Matt and Mark creative partners? Are they a pair? How often do they work on a brief together and how often do they look at it in isolation?4.30 mins and 9 mins How much of the creative process involves the wider agency at Cow?5.40 mins Mark recently rejoined Cow after 8 years away. They are among the most high profile creator directors in PR, why did they decide to work together again? Is there a danger they'll get in each other's way? Is there a competitive element?11 mins How do you create an environment to help people’s creativity to thrive.13 mins Critical thought is an important flip side of creativity - “why does this matter, who will give a shit?”15 mins How can you become a “Student of Ideas?”20 mins Matt talks about how he categorizes ideas.22 mins Mark talks about some techniques that have helped him come up with some of his ideas.23 mins How does Cow, as an agency, build ideas?25 mins Where does planning and creativity meet?26 mins Why Matt and Mark reckon they are better creatives because they don’t outsource the planning part of the job.27 mins Why the PR creative process is not as structured and formalised as it is in advertising. 29 mins How often are Mark and Matt stuck for an idea?29 mins How do you know when you’ve come up with the right idea?31 mins “A simple idea can help solve business or social problems”.34 mins “It takes a second to have a good idea, you just don’t know when that second is going to drop”.37 mins How do you charge for creativity?39 mins How do you make the jump from an account director to a creative?

On the show today I'm talking to Victoria Cross, managing partner of Instinctif. There's a huge amount of discussion in the business world about the importance of ESG as an investment criteria but it is also important for communicators. On today's show we're going to be looking at why ESG is so important for modern communications professionals.Thanks so much to the podcast sponsors, the PRCA.The final entry deadline for the PRmoment Awards is this Friday March 26, do take a look at the PRmoment Awards website for all the details.If you haven't seen it already PRmoment is putting on a "What is your ESG risk" webinar on April 28th. Tickets are free! Here’s a summary of what Victoria and I discussed:1 mins What is ESG and why do PR professionals need to know all about it?2 mins ESG has been around for about 20 years, why has it suddenly gained so much momentum?3 mins How important is ESG as an investment criteria?4 mins Is ESG only important from a financial PR perspective? Or is it a wider conversation?5 mins and 17 mins Where does ESG stop and sustainability and purpose begin?7 mins “ESG is a very good indicator of how well a business is being run”8 mins How do in-house communicators approach ESG? And how interlinked are the E the S and the G?10 mins Is governance the easiest bit of ESG to get right?12 mins How seriously are companies taking ESG currently? Is becoming tick box exercise?14 mins How ESG is rapidly evolving: “very quickly best practice moves on and what was differentiating six months ago becomes (a) also-ran.15 mins What is COP26 is going to mean for ESG this year?16 mins What does ESG mean for non listed companies?20 mins What are investors looking for in ESG performance?23 mins How can companies work out which is the best ESG standard for them?25 mins A discussion of some of the ESG frameworks including The PRI and the UN sustainable development goals, GRI and TCFD29 mins What is the role of a communications professional in ESG?30 mins “Comms (professionals) sit at the intersection of an awful lot of insight.”33 mins Why are sectors such as mining, financial services and tobacco ahead of more disruptive sectors such as tech in terms of their ESG journey?

This week on the PRmoment podcast we're talking about virtual pitching.Virtual pitching is clearly an area that's become more important during the Covid lockdowns and today we're going to be talking to three guests with different perspectives on the pitch processAndrew Bloch is Lead Consultant PR for the AAR, an agency referral company. Also on the show is Rebecca Wagstaffe, Business Development Director at 3 Monkeys Zeno and finally, we’ve got  Charlotte West, Executive Director, Global Corporate Communications at Lenovo to give a buy-side, client perspective on virtual pitching.Thanks so much as ever to the podcast sponsors, the PRCA.Don’t forget the entry deadline for the PRmoment Awards is this Friday, March 26th.1 mins Charlotte talks about her experiences of watching virtual pitches from the buy-side. 2 mins Creating that “pitch theatre” is much harder virtually and why this has levelled the playing field between large and small agencies.3 mins Why virtual pitching needs more preparation than face-to-face pitching.8 mins Why having an existing relationship with someone on the buy-side of the pitch is even more of an advantage in a virtual pitch.9 mins The simplicity of the presentation is the most important element.10 mins “The thread from the insight, to the strategy, to the idea has to be locked tight in (for a virtual pitch) - there is no winging it!”11 mins “Death by Powerpoint is even more brutal over Zoom”12 mins “If your pitch is disjointed, you’re much more exposed over video...you have to practice much more in a virtual environment”11 mins “The transitions are almost more important than the slides - we rehearse our transitions!”13 mins Virtual pitching “is trying to make an unnatural process as natural as possible - and that’s really hard.”14 mins “The chemistry is just as important as the idea”15 mins Why only 20-25% of ideas that are pitched ever happen.16 mins The panels top virtual pitch tips: set rules of engagement, treat the virtual space as a physical space, add your job title to your name on the video, get your “swatty” follow-up right, speak slowly, put your video on, make the pitch more of a workshop format.20 mins What is the process of refinement and rehearsal that you need to go through?24 mins Send a recording of the pitch is a great idea and timestamp the key moments.25 mins Is there a preferred pitch platform?23 mins Andrew talks about AAR’s new rapid pitch process27 mins What is the best time length for a pitch?33 mins The panel share their most embarrassing pitch stories37 mins Are virtual pitches here to stay?

This week on the PRmoment Podcast I’m talking to Alex Grier, Managing Partner of Frank PR.Alex has worked at Frank for 16 years, he joined the firm in 2005 when there were 15 employees and he saw it sold to Photon (which later became Enero) in 2007. Alex has recently been part of the management team which has bought the agency back from Enero.Frank was originally bought by Photon for just over £8m but over the next 5 years Frank's management hit various incentive targets and the final amount the company was bought for was about £20m.It's been reported that the management team bought Frank back for just shy of a million pounds.Frank had a fee income of about £4.8 million in 2020, down a bit compared to 2019 but bear in mind Q 2 of 2020 COVID happened. The management team of Frank tells me Frank has returned to growth.Thanks to the PRCA for sponsoring the PRmoment Podcast.Don't forget the final entry deadline for the PRmoment Awards is on March 26, do take a look at the PRmoment Awards website for all the details.2 mins Who owns Frank now and why did Alex, Graham Goodkind and Andrew Bloch decide to buy the agency back?3 mins On the face of it's quite a deal! The most eye-catching element is obviously selling it for £20 million and buying it back from less than £1m.5 mins Alex has been at Frank for 16 years, what differences did he see between Frank as an independent firm and Frank as a firm that was owned by a group?7 mins Why Alex believes independent firms do a different type of work compared to group owned firms.9 mins Alex displays his immense memory for job titles by recalling some of the PR legends he used to work with at Shine! Including Rachel Bell, Micheal Frochlich (account director), Graham Drew (account manager) Mitchell Kaye (SAE), Erica Hendrick (account director), Misha Danack (SAE), Greg Jones (senior account manager), Natalie Luke (account manager and Lawrence Collis (junior account exec)11 mins Why Michael Frohlich was responsible for Alex leaving Shine to join Frank!13 mins Will Alex need to change his leadership style now Graham Goodkind and Andrew Bloch have moved aside and he’s now the head boy?15 mins Alex reveals who came up with a Weetabix baked beans idea...16 mins How Frank maximised the chances for Weetabix and beans going big - with a 600 brand pile on.18 mins Alex talks about some of the legends he’s worked with at Frank including Graham Goodkind, Andrew Bloch, Frankie Cory, David Fraser, Gemma Hopkin, Damon Stat, Sophie Raine, Lucy Hart, Rich Leigh, Katie Stolladay, Lucy Newsome, Estelle Boon and many more...21 mins Frank has won for 15 new clients since September - why is PR on such a roll at the moment?24 mins “There’s an idea for every budget”24 mins Alex reveals the cost of the Weetabix for beans campaign was about £5K.28 mins Alex reveals that Frank is leaving Camden and (hopefully) moving to Farringdon.30 mins The future is revealed: Why there’s likely to be more ping pong in PR!32 mins Alex talks about the plans for Frank now it's independent again, including the launch of a corporate offer.

On this week's podcast, I talked to Carrie Rose, CEO & Co-Founder of Rise at Seven.To give you some context, just over 2 years ago Rise at Seven barely existed, one year ago it employed 14 people with a turnover of about £1.5 million and today it employs 64 people and has a turnover of over £4 million.So it really is a story of incredible growth especially when you bear in mind that the last 24 months (remember Brexit!) haven’t exactly been a walk in the park for any business, especially agency businesses in the startup phase.Rise at Seven describes itself as a search-first creative agency,  and it was co-founded by Carrie and Stephen Kenwright in June 2019.Thanks so much to the podcast sponsors, the PRCA.The final deadline for the PRmoment Awards is on March 26, do take a look at the PRmoment Awards website for all the details.Carrie, welcome to the show.1 min Carrie tells us how Rise at Seven has a fee income of over 4 million 2 years after it was founded2 mins Carrie talks about what she means by digital PR - basically creating stories to land links!4 mins Why digital PR needs to be at scale.7 mins Carrie talks about the difficulties of Rise at Seven growing so rapidly.9 mins “Fast growth eats your profits...we had to constantly hire”10 mins How Carrie is splitting Rise at Seven into “three mini agencies inside the agency.”12 mins Why Carrie has “never seen the value in having an account manager.”14 mins How Rise at Seven has a proactive and reactive stream for clients - post-COVID 70% of the business is reactive.15mins Who are Rise at Seven’s competitors? PR firms, creative firms or SEO firms?17  mins “The search industry is moving faster into search than creative is moving into search.”18 mins How Rise at Seven have built dedicated employee influencers to build their personal brands.19 mins How big does Carrie want Rise at Seven to get? The company recently launched in the US and in Germany last week!21 mins Why Rise at Seven only do organic search, no paid (PPC.)22 mins “You have to lean on your own confidence and self-belief”.24 mins Why SEO has become more important during the lockdown.27 mins Carrie talks about her relationship with Rise at Seven co-founder Stephen Kenwright.

This week on the PRmoment Podcast I’m talking to Justin Westcott, Edelman’s chief operating officer of Edelman UK and Ireland and head of technology, Edelman EMEA.Edelman had a fee income of circa $840 million dollars in 2020, down from about $890m from the previous financial year.So Edelman’s revenues decreased 5.9% in 2020 - which, most observers seem to reckon is a pretty decent result, bearing in mind the tumultuous nature of 2020!Here’s a flavour of what Justin and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed.1.30 mins Justin talks about how, for Edelman, this was a V-shaped dip and recovery.2 mins Edelman had a horrid quarter last year but 8 months into its fiscal year Edelman in the UK has returned to growth.3 mins When looking at the wider economy, is it a bit surreal that PR’s in such a growth mode?8 mins What has Edelman done to reduce the negative impact of lockdown on its staff?11 mins How 10-15% (so 50+ people) of Edelman’s UK workforce have never been to its office, nor met their colleagues face-to-face.14 mins Could this decade be the second Roaring 20s?15 mins Edelman is moving office in the UK next year - how has that new office brief changed in the last 12 months?17 mins What will the new type of office layout and design look like?21 mins As CCO - what's it like managing a 500 person agency virtually?22 mins How Justin is regularly looking at employee data to check that things are working OK across the business.28 mins While last year was challenging, 2020 was also Edelman UK’s most awarded year ever for its creative work.29 mins For a PR firm to have strong tech expertise, can only be an advantage.30 mins Post Chuka Umunna - what does Edelman’s ESG offer look like in the UK?

On this week's show, I'm chatting to  Francis Ingham, Director General of the PRCA about what the PRCA describes as “an ethical divide (that) has emerged between those willing to embrace ethics and professional standards, and those unwilling to adopt such values.”A PRCA spokesperson has said “almost half (of lobbyists) are happy to be unregulated and unaccountable. And within this group are some enormously influential companies.”To put this spat into more context The PRCA’s analysis of lobbying company entries published by the Government’s Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists (ORCL) showed that the number declaring that they followed no code of conduct increased by 28 per cent between 2019 and 2020.Of the 166 entries by agencies on the ORCL register 51 per cent adhered to the PRCA’s Public Affairs Code, 39 per cent followed no code; seven per cent followed the CIPR’s code, and two per cent adhered to their own code.Here’s a summary of what Francis and I discussed:2 mins Why have some very large companies made the decision not to adhere to any lobbying code of conduct?4 mins What is ORCL and why did the government establish it?5 mins Why ORCL is a register to create transparency in lobbying, on its own it is not a code of conduct.6 mins Why has the number of agencies declaring no code increased in the last 12 months?7 mins By signing up to the Public Affairs Code - what are agencies signing up to?7.30 mins Can lobbying firms join the PRCA’s Public Affairs Code without being members of the PRCA? 9 mins How the majority of consultancies not signed up The Public Affairs Code are not PR firms - they are lawyers, accountancies and management consultants.11 mins What needs to happen for all lobbying firms to join a self-regulatory code of conduct?15 mins Is the PRCA suffering from a Bell Pottinger hangover here? Are some of these firms not joining the PRCA because they saw what happened with Bell Pottinger and they don’t want to take the risk? 16 mins Why are in-house lobbyists not regulated, only their agency peers?19 mins What needs to happen to maintain transparency and accountability in the lobbying sector.

On this week's podcast, I'm chatting to Chris McCafferty, group CEO MSL UK. Chris has been at MSL for about a year and a half. Previously he worked for Red, Microsoft, Weber Shandwick, Myspace and Shine. In 2010 Chris launched Kaper PR which was a JV with Karmarama. The Karmarama Group was sold to Accenture in 2016. MSL employs about 150 in the UK and is owned by Publicis.Thanks so much to the podcast sponsors, the PRCA.If you haven't taken a look yet, here are all the categories for the PRmoment Awards 2021.Here’s a summary of what Chris and I discussed:1.27 mins Why did Chris decide to join a large networked firm like MSL, rather than going down the agency start-up route, like he had done previously in his career?2 mins “I spent 3 years working as a management consultant within Accenture Interactive and it was great but it didn’t make me happy.” 3.30 mins What are the differences in working for a networked firm compared to an independent agency?5 mins I ask Chris why MSL has had a tough time in the UK? (Prior to the last 12 months)7 mins Chris talks about how MSL has won Puma, Axa, Bank of America and Subway in the last 12 months and recovered quickly from a very tough Q2 2020.9  mins Chris believes MSL does its best work when “brands are at a moment of change.”10 mins Chris talks about the challenges of joining and leading an agency in lockdown11 mins What schemes has MSL put in place to build the right culture during lockdown?14 mins Chris talks about We Build Belief - MSL’s “view on the world.”19 mins and 27 mins  How do you create momentum in a PR agency business?20 mins Chris talks about the 3 defining parts of his career- the first at The Red Consultancy, the second launching MySpace across Europe and the third launching Kaper.21 mins Chris says he’s “a better agency person because he had a period in-house.”23 mins How has MSL has got itself back on the big pitch lists in the London market?24 mins How closely does Chris work with the rest of Publicis?28 min Publicis recently bought Octopus communications, Chris talks about what this means for MSL in the UK.

This week on the PRmoment podcast I chatted to Elena Davidson, CEO of Liberty Communications.Liberty is a boutique technology public relations firm based in London with a fee income of about £2 million. The business was founded by Dee Giibs in 1998. 75% of its fee income is from the UK and mainland Europe and 25% from the US. There’s a link in the show notes to an interview I did with Dee back in 2019.Before we start, thanks so much as ever to the podcast sponsors, the PRCA.And if you haven't taken a look yet, all the categories for the PRmoment Awards 2021 are on the awards microsite PRmomentawards.com Here’s a summary of what Elena and I discussed:1 min We got the inevitable COVID question out the way first! How has the lockdown been for Liberty?4 mins How even in tech, some sectors were hit harder than others during the lockdown.6 mins Why Liberty doesn’t want to grow beyond a fee income of about £2 million. 8 mins What does boutique agency actually mean!9 mins Liberty has increased its profitability in the last three to four years, how has it done that?16 mins How the PR sector, along with the rest of the economy, is quickly evolving its practices for working from home17 mins How commercial landlords are having to change their model to “stay relevant.”18 mins 25% of Liberty’s business is in the US - how has it managed to get the US office up and running?23 mins “Don’t be afraid of failure...you’ll learn a lot of things along the way”25 mins Why do a lot of agencies find growing beyond a £2 million level difficult?32 mins Elena talks about her time at Hotwire which was spent alongside a bunch of young PR account managers who have gone on to have impressive careers including Emma Hart, Nicola Koronka, Brendon Craigie, Daljit Bhurji, Emma Hazan, Ivan Ristic, Narel Morrison, Ian Hood, Peter Bowles, Rebecca Honeyman, Alistair Townsend…34 mins What was it about Hotwire at that time that led to so many young PR entrepreneurs being inspired?36 mins Elena talks about Liberty's Academy Programme41 mins How Elena and Liberty founder Dee Gibbs’ relationship has been built on trust, loyalty and fun!

On this week's show, I'm chatting to Chris Hides, managing director of The Academy.Chris joined The Academy in December 2020 having previously been co-founder and MD of M&C Saatchi Talk, which was the merged business of M&C Saatchi PR and Talk PR.The Academy employs 50 people and has revenues of £4.4m.As many of our listeners will know it was founded by Mitch Kaye and Dan Glover in 2014.Before we start, thanks so much as ever to the podcast sponsors, the PRCA.And if you haven't taken a look yet, all the categories for the PRmoment Awards 2021 are on the awards microsite PRmomentawards.com Here’s a summary of what Chris and I discussed:01.00 min How Chris during 10 months of lockdown has merged an agency, launched an agency, left an agency and joined an agency? 03.00 mins How a chance lockdown meeting with The Academy co-founder Mitch Kaye led to Chris joining The Academy.04.00 mins How well did Chris know Mitch or Dan Glover before he joined The Academy?06.00 mins What it had been like for Chris being the new boy in a business for the first time in 18 years! 07.00 mins Why Chris has met all his new colleagues in his bedroom!09.00 mins How joining a business as a senior player you have to earn your stripes all over again.10.00 mins Bearing in mind the history of Dan Glover and Mitch Kaye in PR, does Chris feel the pressure of expectation as the new managing director of their business?12.00 mins How Chris started his PR career with Angie Moxham at Le Fevre and an office dog called Bollinger!15.00 mins “One of the greatest constraints to creativity is a lack of confidence”.16.00 mins How the most successful agencies must recognise, reward and promote creativity and not constrain creative talent.17.00 mins Chris talks us through his time at Talk PR and why he then co-founded M&C Saatchi PR.22.00 mins Chris talks us through the rapid growth of M&C Saatchi, alongside CEO Molly Aldridge.26.00 mins In 8 years M&C Saatchi PR went from a start up with pretty much zero revenue to, at its height in 2016/17, a 120 person agency with offices in New Your, Madrid, Paris, Milan, London and UAE. Chris talks us through the reasons why the business went through a period of decline.27.00 mins Chris says growing a business at that pace “is very much like a rollercoaster, you sit yourself in it and the ride starts and off you go. That’s the deal. My philosophy was always, you’re not getting off until the ride has finished.”28.00 mins “A lot of the decisions about expansion are about risk and your ability to manage risk and calculate it.”29.00 mins “America...was a real challenge. We tried incredibly hard to get America right and I don’t think we ever did.”30.00 mins Looking back Chris says “he would be more considerate in the attitude to accumulate costs. It’s very easy to put people into a business, it’s quite difficult, damaging to then remove them.”33.00 mins How the PR agency model has shifted - “the range of skills sets needed has increased...the costs go up, so you’re placing bigger bets! You can’t win the work without the talent.”34.00 mins Why do, in the main, UK consumer PR firms struggle to thrive in the US? 41.00 mins Chris talks about what it’s like joining The Academy’s management team of Mitch Kaye and Dan Glover who have worked together for so long.

On this week's podcast I'm chatting to Ondine Whittington, group managing director of Golin UK and Virgo Health.Ondine has worked for Virgo since 2006 and stayed with the firm when it was bought by Golin in 2014. She became the UK MD of Golin Virgo in March 2020.Golin employs about 70 people in London and Virgo about 60. Golin is well known for its consumer work but it also operates across the tech and healthcare verticals.Before we start, thanks so much as ever to the podcast sponsors, the PRCA.And if you haven't taken a look yet, all the categories for the PRmoment Awards 2021 are on the awards microsite PRmomentawards.com Ondine - welcome to the PRmoment podcast.01.30 mins How Ondine started at Virgo 2006 and now 15 years later she’s the MD of Golin and Virgo in the UK.03.30 mins How Ondine didn’t plan to leave Virgo but at the same time she never planned to stay.04.00 mins Do you think people tend to change jobs too often in PR?07.00 mins How has Ondine found moving from client facing roles to becoming the Golin UK MD?08.00 mins How it was finding herself “in the middle of a pandemic within two weeks of taking the role.”10.00 mins and 11.30 mins  Why PR has had a good lockdown.11.00 mins How building trust with your teams is more difficult in a virtual environment.14.00 mins Why “the focus on internal teams and their welfare has never been so important” for agency CEOs. 16.00 mins “The role of the employer has changed (during lockdown.) There are days when you feel like a councillor”.17.00 mins In a virtual environment, as an agency leader, the time invested in keeping in touch with your team “could be a full time job right now.”18.00 mins Why Ondine decided she didn’t want to be a doctor anymore but wanted to work in PR!21.00 mins In hindsight Odine looks back at the Golin/Virgo merger.What worked and what didn’t?28.00 mins PR firms have relied on training by osmosis - and in a virtual environment that just doesn't work does it?29.00 mins Why trying to create an environment for better staff training and development in a virtual environment is “the top issue” of PR agency leaders at the moment.30.00 mins The great PR lockdown creativity challenge.33.00 mins Ondine talks about the “sinister underbelly of flexible working.”

This week we're talking about whether PR has an ethics problem. Are PR ethics absolute? Are they relative? Or are they personal to all of us?If you were an outside observer of the Twitter chat of various PR thought leaders you’d have thought that bad ethics is a real and present danger to the business of public relations. But is it? How much bad practice is there? And what does that poor practice look like? On the show to discuss this issue are the co-authors of Public Relations Ethics Trevor Morris and Simon Goldsworthy.Thanks so much as ever to the podcast sponsors, the PRCA.And if you haven't taken a look yet, all the categories for the PRmoment Awards 2021 are on the awards microsite www.prmomentawards.com 02.00 mins Does PR have an ethics problem?03.00 mins Has the PR sector become obsessed with ethics in the shadow of the Bell Pottinger scandal?04.55 mins Is there more evidence of bad ethics in banking, accountancy or law than there is in public relations?05.45 mins “PR doesn't have much of a public face. The nature of the PR/journalist relationship means journalists always have the last word. That impacts the public impression of PR.”08.00 mins  “There are acceptable lies...and there are unacceptable lies”.10.00 mins The public’s perception of who it is acceptable to work for is changing - this has implications for lawyers, PR firms, meat producers and fossil fuel producers.11.30 mins Because PR is not a profession, there are very few punishments for unethical behaviour - you can’t be struck off like accountants, lawyers or doctors because you’ve never qualified!12.20 mins “It’s understandable that lots of people want PR to be a profession...because it’s about controlling entry and one of the grips of the PR industry has been about relatively low fees compared to established professions.”14.00 mins Some examples of why ethics in PR are subjective18.00 mins Why regulation of lying in PR is almost impossible19.00 mins “If someone keeps telling me they’re honest, I check my wallet”.20.00 mins “Anyone who tells you they’ve never told a lie is a liar”20.00 mins A PR code of ethics checklist21.00 mins “The do as you would be done by” principle24.00 mins “There are things people are doing today that will be seen as unethical in 5 years time.”32.00 mins Trevor and Simon talk about their work on the Global PR Ethics Council33.00 mins How much unethical practice is there currently in public relations?35.00 mins A discussion around the implications of fake news for public relations ethics37.00 mins Why lobbying is the most controversial element of PR ethics39.00 mins Is lobbying ahead of the rest of the public relations sector when it comes to the regulation of ethics?45.00 mins Where is the unethical line? Buying lunch, a nice lunch, corporate hospitality, a free week's holiday…50.00 mins “PR must be aware of its ethical issues otherwise it will lose the trust of the public.”51.00 mins “There are issues around how PR professionals make their case that are real and live, especially as very often these no longer go through the filter of journalism.”

This week I'm catching up with Nicky Regazzoni, co-founder of the PR Network, talking us through her career story in public relations.For those of you that are not aware, Nicky launched the network 15 years ago with Georgina Blizzard. The PR Network now has a fee income of £3.8 million and recorded an impressive 13 percent growth in 2020. Clients include Purple Bricks and Snapchat. These days the PR Network is a multi specialist agency.Thanks as ever to the PRmoment Podcast Sponsors, the PRCA.Don’t forget to take a look at the PRmoment Awards categories, the early bird deadline for entries is Friday 26th February.03.11 mins How The PR Network has navigated the last 10 months.07.50 mins Why the PR Network’s strategy of working internationally with clients really paid off during lockdown.09.35 mins Nicky outlines The PR Network’s model of having a core team and individual and agency partners across a virtual model.15.30 mins In a remote working environment how do you find a balance between creativity and productivity?17.50 mins How do you set and retain a business culture in a virtual business?21.00 mins In a virtual set up we all have got used to spending a lot more time alone - Nicky talks about ways to decrease lonely working.23.00 mins How to work with clients you’ve never met. 25.00 mins How it’s very difficult to create energy in a virtual pitch.28.00 mins How have Nicky and her business partner Georgina Blizzard kept their relationship fresh?29.00 mins Why job sharing is under utilised in public relations.31.00 mins Why the experience of running The PR Network through Covid has meant a restructure of the senior team, with Nicky and Georgina taking on new more hands-on roles.33.00 mins What’s the growth strategy for The PR Network?35.00 mins Why virtual doesn’t mean you’re always working at home (in a non-lockdown world)    

This week we're talking around the idea that during lockdown we all seem to be super busy- but it’s not much fun! There seems to be a relentless nature to working from home that many hadn’t expected. In this podcast, we explore whether this repetitive, somewhat joyless for some, way of working can be avoided and discuss the impact it is having on PR teams.On the show this week are Jackie Elliott, chairman of Cathcart Consulting, Louie Sinclair, CEO of Harvard and Matt Buchanan, head of PR and Influence at Ogilvy UK.Thank you so much to the podcast sponsors, the PRCA.If you haven't taken a look yet, here are all the categories for the PRmoment Awards 2021.Here’s a flavour of what we discussed: 02.00 mins Work-wise, are the panel busy but not particularly happy?04.00 mins Why it’s been a tough time to be a leader in PR: “It’s much harder leading through technology.”04.45 mins The practice of public relations thrives on human connections, how much harder is PR when we’re not all together?06.15 mins “Everything has become an appointment.” There’s an absence of spontaneity. 08.00 mins Why we miss those “happy accidents” of agency life.09.30 mins What processes and schemes have been most successful to try and minimise the negative effects of working alone?11.00 mins Why people have found the lockdown “tougher this time around.”14.00 mins When we return to a normal working environment “we will need to re-look at the boundaries between work and home (life)”.15.00 mins Who on the panel has never taken part in a Zoom quiz!18.00 mins Ogilvy found it was employees in their 40s who were keener to return to the office, rather than their younger employees.20.00 mins The younger generation want work to “revolve around life rather than the other way around...and there have been some benefits of lockdown for that.”22.00 mins The 8.30 - 6.30, five days a week in the office is over. It’s done. After years of PR agencies (mainly) paying lip service, it changed forever, in one day.23.00 mins Bearing in mind ongoing social distancing requirements, to what extent do the panel anticipate office capacity issues when the PR world returns to offices? And are office spaces going to need to be re-designed?25.00 mins Most agencies seem to be planning a 3:2 scheme, 3 days in the office, 2 days at home.27.00 mins Does the agency leadership still need to be in the office full time?30.00 mins What are the cultural implications of a long term shift to remote working? “It has to have an impact doesn’t it?”33.00 mins When onboarding people remotely - how do you avoid the situation where the onboarding process is led by the IT team?!34.00 mins Why last year Harvard CEO Louie St Clare became, perhaps, the UK's best-paid white van man (for a day!).35.00 mins “The longer this goes on, the harder it will be to come back and have the same culture you left with.”36.00 mins Is the panel surprised that the PR world is quite as busy as it is at the moment?38.00 mins Why clients have become more demanding during lockdown.40.00 mins Why many PR agency/client partnerships are stronger than they have ever been.40.00 mins PR has, in the main, had a good lockdown but will it be able to retain its advantage over its marketing peers? “We’ll try but it will be different. When you come out of a war, you embrace the peace.”42.00 mins Has remote working and the loneliness of it changed the type of work coming out of creative agencies?   

This week on the PRmoment Podcast we chat to Victoria Usher, CEO of Ginger May about how the Covid crisis has reawakened many people's entrepreneurial spirit.Thanks, as ever, to the PRmoment Podcast Sponsors the PRCA.Don’t forget to take a look at the PRmoment Awards categories. The early bird deadline for entries is Friday 26th February.Here’s a summary of what Victorial and I discussed:02.20 mins As an entrepreneur how has Victoria felt over the past 10 months?03.00 mins How Victoria has gone through different stages over the past 10 months.05.40 mins According to Goldman Sachs this has been an event driven recession rather than a systematic recession, therefore the recovery is likely to be V shaped.06.20 mins “I had to become an entrepreneur (all over again), like I did when I set the business up 10 years ago. I felt alive, really alive!”07.00 mins “My energy levels were very high. It was a sharp time. It was edgy.”07.25 mins As an entrepreneur “you don’t get complacent, but you do get reliant and suddenly you are faced with a new model and (things are) completely out of your control, whereas before you were completely in control.”10.30 mins “When you’re setting a business up you use strategic skills to define the type of organisation you want to run, you then tend not to use those skills much, you just don’t need them.” The pandemic forced entrepreneurs to use those skills once again.15.20 mins Why the Covid crisis gave entrepreneurs the opportunity to look at their businesses under a microscope and ask "Is this operating how I want it to?”.22.20 mins Ginger May’s revenue is back up to 2019 levels already.26.00 mins It’s still a tough environment out there though - what are Victoria's biggest challenges atm?

Today on the PRmoment podcast I'm catching up with Marc Allenby, ECD of both Harvard and Eat the Fox; the tech Marketing & PR agencies, part of the Chime Group and Daniel Maynard, vice president, Communications, Media (Television & Direct-to-Consumer) Europe & Africa at The Walt Disney Company.Before we start just a reminder for all of you that the PRmoment Awards are now open for entries or the details on the awards microsite PRmomentAwards.com.We talk about Marc and Daniel's experiences as gay men working in the creative sector.Here’s a summary of what we discussed:1.00 min How self-confidence shines through into all of our work.3.50 mins Do either Marc or Daniel feel that being gay has had a detrimental impact on their careers in the creative sector?7.20 mins Marc and Daniel discuss the issue of coming out at work and that awkward “Oh OK” moment they sometimes get from colleagues!12.25 mins Marc tells us about the first time he came out at work - drunk at the Christmas party!13.30 mins Marc talks about his traumatic childhood memories of growing up feeling “different”.17 mins Daniel describes how as a gay person, as opposed other minority groups, you have to declare yourselve as being gay, otherwise people just don’t know.21 mins How can a company create an inclusive culture towards gay people and other minority groups?28 mins Why positive role models are so important for all of us.37 mins Why we need to all love who we are and celebrate diversity!39 mins If an individual is opposed to you because of who you are - don’t stand for it. It’s illegal.41.30 mins We finish with the Oscar Wilde quote: “Be yourself, everyone else is already taken”.   

Today on the PRmoment Podcast I'm talking to Mark Inskip, CEO of Kantar UK’s Media Division about its research revealing the challenges to the comms industry in 2021.According to the research, there are three big challenges facing the sector today: The sheer volume of stakeholders comms professionals need to engage withThe challenge of measuring impact in a landscape of highly scrutinized budgetsThe increased automation of public relations.Here’s a summary of what Mark and I discuss:02.00 mins Why PR teams have become victims of their own success04.00 mins Why PR is in its teenage years!04.45 mins How the PR and comms teams that invest in their teams and resources will become the high performing ones05.20 mins Why PR people must ruthlessly decide their priorities09.00 mins Why PR and communications leaders will need to say “no” a bit more!12.00 mins Why too many marketers are prioritising the short term, to the detriment of the long term 14.00 mins The increasing emphasis of internal stakeholders for in-house communicators16.00 mins Why PR should be proud of the value it creates in building reputation21.00 mins How do you isolate impact in an integrated campaign?22.00 mins Why often good measurement is about finding “the proxy’s and a pragmatic solution.”25.00 mins Mark discusses the role of increased automation in public relations teams30.00 mins Mark talks about how Kantar is developing its AVE methodology.   

Today on the PRmoment Podcast I'm talking to George Coleman Co-Founder & CEO at Current Global.Current Global has just launched a commitment that every piece of communication it develops, curates or publishes on behalf of the firm and its clients will meet the highest accessibility standards. Current Global is owned by Interpublic and has offices in Europe, America and Asia. It employs over 200 people.1.20 mins George’s father is deaf so accessible communication is a personal subject for him.4.40 mins The internet and technology have had a transformational impact on how people with an impairment can consume media.5 mins How to design content to be accessible through technology5.30 mins How technology and standards have developed in tandem to increase the accessibility to content.6.20 mins Some examples of the types of technology that is available to help make communications more accessible6.40 min George talks us through how to use the accessibility checker in Microsoft Office.7.30 mins Why we should all be using Microsoft’s Accessibility checker as much as we use Spell Check9 mins How most of the social networks have free to use accessibility tools but you need to design your content, workflows and princesses to ensure you utilise them fully.10 mins What processes have Current Global gone through to introduce best practice communications for in the four disability areas of vision, hearing, cognition and speech?13 mins How long are the checklists for best practice communications?18 mins 15% of the world's population has some form of disability19.30 mins How Current Global is planning to share the processes of what you need to do to make your communications accessible with the public relations sector24 mins George recommends the w3c.org website and its accessibility guidelines for more information. 

On the PRmoment Podcast this week we’re talking to Tony Langham, co-founder and CEO of Lansons. Tony and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discuss the findings of a recent report Tony edited: How PR firms can recover fast from the pandemic.The report is a series of 250 word pieces of advice from (mostly) PR leaders from all around the world.1.00 min Tony tells us how the "‘How to Recover Fast from the Pandemic" report came about.3.00 mins Why the report is perfect toilet reading material!4.00 mins Tony summarises the report's findings. 4.30 mins Why a spirit of positivity in public relations is one of the great things coming out of the report.7.55 mins The report predicts that the leaders who invest in technology and their people will come out of the Covid-19 crisis most successfully.8.30 mins The impact of Covid-19 on the shape of PR firms. 8.45 mins Why corporate PR is back!9.00 mins The need for collaboration: Why the era of being the only agency of record for clients, especially for smaller independent firms, is probably over.12.00 mins Why the skills of communicators have become paramount for business.12.30 mins Why communications must be about deeds and words.13.00 mins Why Tony is sure PR, as a sector, will have performed better than the global economy during the crisis.13.30 mins Why PR became very important to certain organisations during the crisis.14.00 mins Covid-19 has demonstrated that good communications can save lives and bad communications can cost lives.15.00 mins How can public relations retain its improved profile and identity within organisations coming out of the pandemic?16.00 mins Has the pandemic changed the way Tony will lead Lansons?16.30 mins How working for the PRCA has improved Tony as a leader.18.00 mins Why remote working has actually made Tony more accessible to Lansons employees.20.00 mins How the Covid-19 crisis has demonstrated that change is possible quicker than we all previously thought!22.00 mins Why society is likely to go through a post Covid-19 bitterness stage next year.23.00 mins What does Tony want PR professionals to take from the report.24.00 mins How reading the report can increase the breadth of your PR horizons.

On the PRmoment Podcast this week we’re talking to Charlotte Mair, Founder and Managing Director, The Fitting RoomThe Fitting Room was originally called PR and Everything in Between in 2012. It was rebranded as The Fitting Room in 2017.The Fitting Room specialises in Food & Drink, Fashion, Music and Hospitality work. It has revenues of circa £1.2 m and employs 7 people. Clients include Cafe Rouge, Sony, Green King and Putt shack.Charlotte welcome to the show1.30 mins How Charlotte started her business when she had £17.22 in her account!2.20 mins How Charlotte, without an agency background, or much PR experience decided to start her own PR firm because “she’d always had a burning desire to work in PR.”3.30 mins Whether calling their parents is the first thing most entrepreneurs do when they decide to launch their business!4.30 mins How the fitting Room has really gained momentum in the last couple of years.5.20 mins How giving away a couple of Cliff Richard tickets lead to Charlotte winning her first big non-celebrity client!5.40 mins How before her first pitch Charlotte had to Google “How to pitch!”10.50 mins Why Charlotte takes her inspiration from the US agency market, rather than the UK PR agencies market14.30 mins Why The Fitting Room’s vibe is so important to Charlotte.19.20 mins How, almost 10 years after founding the business, Charlotte only got a website in May this year!20.25 mins How Charlotte self-taught herself how to run an agency business.25.30 mins As a black woman running her own firm, does Charlotte feel the pressure to become a role model?31.40 mins How Charlotte wants to be: “who she needed when she was younger.” 35.30 mins Why Charlotte doesn’t like the term BAME. 40.50 mins Why doesn't Charlotte like the word urban?41.50 mins Charlotte tells us about her plans for The Fitting Room?43.30 mins Why Charlotte has launched a podcast called 1722.

On the PRmoment Podcast this week is Adam Clyne, founder of Coolr.For Adam it’s been a pretty varied career, first of all he worked in PR, then he made the move into advertising with JWT. He launched his own digital agency called The Lab in 2002 which he then sold to the agency that is now Kindred. Spells at TVC and Weber Shandwick followed.Then he had a spell at LadBible before launching his own social media agency Coolr in 2017.Coolr is a social media agency with about 20 employees. Clients include Burger King and Deliveroo.Here’s a summary of what Adam and I discussed:02.00 mins Why Adam moved from PR to advertising early in his career.03.00 mins How that early crossover between PR and advertising defined the rest of Adam’s career04.30 mins Why job roles in PR have become more specialist.05.30 mins How Adam founded the integrated agency The Lab aged 26 and sold it by the time he was 30 to the agency that is now known as Kindred.09.00 mins Having worked buy side and sell side on acquisitions, Adam gives us his top tips on how to either sell or buy an agency business?18.30 mins Why Adam believes “every stage of his career has given him something different.”25 mins Adam moved to TVC, which was bought by The Economist. Adam gives his perspective on why the acquisition of TVC by The Economist didn’t, in the end, work out.31 mins Adam talks about his time as Head of Digital at Weber and what the role involved.32 mins How did Adam’s move to The Lad Bible move come about?35 mins Why Adam’s combined social experience of Weber and Lad Bible influenced the proposition of Coolr.37 mins When an agency says “it's really good at social”-  what does it mean?42 mins Why Coolr has a CTO within the business for its Facebook Workspace work   

On the PRmoment Podcast this week we’re talking to Richard Rawlins, CEO and founder of Finn.Finn was founded in 2005, it has a turnover of approximately £3 million and 35 employees. It is based in Leeds and focuses exclusively on the FMCG sector.Here’s a flavour of what Richard and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:01.40 mins Why as a 21-year-old Richard enrolled in The British Army.04.10 mins Why Richard left the army.05.35 mins Is it surprising more ex-service personnel don’t work in PR?07.10 mins Why PR’s lack of visibility as a career option for people leaving the army, for graduates, for those leaving school is a big problem for the sector.08.45 mins Richard talks about Finn's “Next of Kin” scheme that goes out to local schools, academies and youth trusts to tell them about a career in public relations.10.30 mins Why originally Richard wanted to be an ad man.12 mins How Richard had become “a bit institutionalised” in the army and it took him a couple of years to adapt to a career in PR.13 mins How a spell at Cohn & Wolfe in 1995 defined his approach to PR.15 mins Why Richard believes the sector is too focussed “on being good at PR and not (being) good at client”16 mins  “Good PR thinking is the foundation of great communications but too often it's restricted to the earned channel”.18 mins Why in the FMCG sector, the PR agency is now “very often the lead agency” says Richard.20 mins Why Richard sees Finn as an FMCG specialist agency, not a regional agency.23 mins How the virtual way of working has changed the game for agencies outside of London; they always struggled to recruit enough talent. Remote working means that is no longer an issue.25 mins In September 2005 Richard founded Finn. Why did he decide to set up his own business?30 mins “Why the sweet spot is the intersection between corporate and creative.”30 mins Finn is very much focused on FMCG brands. Why did Richard decide to retain such a specific sector focus?30 mins Why “generalism isn’t a strategy”.32 mins How Finn took a hit at the start of lockdown but has repaired since then. 

Welcome to the latest PRmoment Podcast. This week we’re turning the tables and PRmoment founder Ben Smith is interviewed by Third City’s Chris Blackwood.Just a reminder that PRmoment Podcast listeners can get 20% off the first month off Propel Software here.Here’s a summary of what Chris and I discussed:3.30 mins How Ben’s career has been split over two phases8.30 mins Why empathy is a crucial skill in publishing9.30 mins How PRmoment was started in the midst of the financial crisis in 2008.10.40 mins Chris and I reminisce about Hacked Off Flack16.30 mins How the lockdown has been a tough period for B2B publishers24 mins PR buzzwords that should be banned26 mins Does the public relations sector waste too much time critiquing itself?26.45 mins “Other than Bell Pottinger is there much evidence that there are a huge number of unethical PR people around?... Compare it (PR) to the accountancy scandals or the banking scandals.”27.30 mins Why the "Is PR a profession debate” frustrates Ben29 mins What’s the most annoying thing PR agency CEOs do?33 mins “If you’ve lost your job recently, in the near or medium-term, you’ve got a much better chance of getting a new one if you work in PR than in a lot of other sectors.”33.15 mins Why Ben never wants to set up his own PR agency!34 mins Ben identifies his interview with Lord Bell, post the Bell Pottinger, OakBay Capital Scandal as the most difficult interview he’s done.36 mins Ben’s attempts to identify his top 3 PR dinner party guests38 mins If Ben could choose one job in PR - what would it be?41 mins Why Ben doesn’t see PRmoment as a challenger brand44 mins Ben and Chris have a chat about the number of PR awards53 mins “Lockdown is one word but it’s a journey...all of us will have different periods of crisis. It’s up and down, pretty relentless and the vast majority of it has to be done in isolation”56 mins Why Ben is Zoomed out: “You can have a far more engaging telephone call than a Zoom Call, all this stuff about video (calls being) brilliant, I don’t get it...you can even make yourself a cup of coffee on a phone call. The technology works, it’s been around a long time!”  

Welcome to the latest PRmoment Podcast. This week I’m talking to ex Golin CEO Jon Hughes. These days Jon describes himself as a Senior advisor specialising in technology and corporate communications.Jon’s been looking at how technology is likely to change the shape of PR and communications businesses over the medium term and he’s giving us an insight into these ideas today.Here is the link where PRmoment Podcast sponsors can get the reader off of 20% off the first month off Propel Software.2.00 mins What Jon has been up to since he left Golin?3.20 mins Why does Jon believe PR firms are behind their marcomms peers in their use of technology?4.00 mins Why the PR sector has now got a hunger for speed.4.56 mins How the pandemic has brought an explosion of data that is available for marketers - ”every digital breadcrumb is available for analysis.”6.40 mins “Marketing is way ahead of PR in terms of using technology and automation” 8.25 mins “There are 2 big buckets for technology (use in PR) integration and agility.”10 mins CMOs role within businesses are changing and that will have implications for PR people10.45 mins Large brands have invested heavily in CRM systems and they are using these for paid and owned media - Jon predicts they will need to use these expensive pieces of marcoms software for earned media as well.11.17 mins According to Gartner 26% of marketing budgets are now spent on martech and 58% of the martech stack is left unused.12.20 mins To what extent is martech technology useful for automating large amounts of PR practice?13.41 mins Why data and insight is “creating a growing rift between clients and brands and some agencies where clients feel their agencies are no longer keeping pace with them.”15.40 mins Post pandemic agencies need to “re-look at what they do, there’s no point trying to automate what you did in the offline world - it’s a new environment now.”20 mins Why the media database business model has been blown apart.22.45 mins More integration is coming both for agencies and in-house teams - CMOs are increasingly going to want a “single view.”24 mins How Jon sees the PR tech market developing25 mins There are around 8000 martech solutions, and less than 1% of which relate to public relations26.41 mins Why prediction of media trends tech is an interesting area for PR, “because that has always been public relations’ achilles heel.” 28.10 mins Why the visualisation of data is an important area for PR tech.29 mins Why a lot of the best technology for PR is not PR tech.32 mins “There is no one software vendor that does it all, they may do part of it really well and you then supplement with..point solutions” to build your PR Stack.33 mins “Your PR stack needs to automate and integrate everything you so”, whether your agency or client side.34 mins “What you do with the data, how you bring the data together, how you cross reference it... that is the magic, that is the opportunity, that is the value.”35 mins A warning from Jon for agencies thinking of developing their own tools “The fact of the matter is that agencies are usually pretty awful at developing their own technology”38 mins Agencies need to think about how they can integrate their PR software into martech like marketo and Hubspot.

This week on the PRmoment Podcast I’m talking to James Kelliher, chief executive officer at Whiteoaks International.Whiteoaks is a 40 person tech PR agency based in Hook, Hampshire. It has a fee income of approximately £4m.Here’s a flavour of what James and I discussed:1.30 mins  How James has spent pretty much his whole career at Whiteoaks - he joined as an account exec and he’s now the CEO and majority shareholder.4.46 mins Did James ever get close to leaving Whiteoaks?7.00 mins How the buy out of Whiteoaks from the founders Bill Nichols and Jill Craig was a two stage process.12.05 mins Why PR firms can grow too quickly, controlled low double digit growth is James’ recommendation!14.05 mins James became the MD of Whiteoaks aged only 29. Did that create any challenges?15.45 mins Why Whiteoaks doesn’t believe retainers offer good value for clients.16.15 mins How Whiteoaks links its project fees to performance targets through a service level agreement - and sometimes refunds fees to clients!21.30 mins James says that If PR wants access to bigger budgets, “to have a seat at the top table it must be more accountable.”24.30 mins Does the payment by results model change the behavior of Whiteoaks as a business and the type of people it employees?26 mins What is it about Bracknell, Reading, Basingstoke - the Thames Valley Corridor that attracts so many tech businesses?28.20 mins Does James think Whitoaks would be a bigger business today if it was based in London?30 mins James talks us through how Whiteoaks’ international group of independent agencies works.34 mins James talks about how challenging the Covid period has been for Whiteoaks and its people. James predicts that the business will be down 15%-20% this year.Please note this interview was conducted before the UK Government’s announcement encouraging businesses to revert to working from home.

In the latest PRmoment Podcast I catch up with Effie Kanyua, director of PR & Comms, Hearst UK. Effie is currently director of PR & Comms at Hearst UK having previously worked at Clarity, H&K, Splendid and Bauer Media.Here are some of the themes that Effie and I discussed:2 mins How Effie retained a broad range of PR sector experience and why that's been really beneficial now she has moved to a senior in-house role.4.40 mins Why Effie deliberately avoided becoming known as a vertical specialist to retain a rounded skill set9.50 mins Effie talks about how leadership is so important in creating a culture within a business, both in-house and agency side.11 mins How Effie enjoyed very different cultures through her career – she argues trust and leadership are more important.12.05 mins What makes a good monitoring scheme and why having a mentor in PR is really important.16 mins How structured does a mentor relationship need to be?21.30 mins Effie talks about the BME PR pros mentoring scheme that she's involved with.30 mins Effie talks about how Hearst as a publishing company has had a pretty good lockdown - including how some magazine subscriptions have increased by 200%!37.15 mins Effie talks about the differences working in-house compared to agency side.   

This week on the PRmoment Podcast we talk to Jo-ann Robertson, Partner and CEO of Ketchum London in the latest of our PR Rest series of podcasts - that look at the state of public relations post the COVID-19 lockdown.Here’s a summary of what Jo-ann and I discussed:1.55 mins What does the outlook for the next six months for PR firms? 7.40 mins Bearing in mind how many agency: client relationships have changed during the lockdown we discuss the longer-term prospects for UK public relations. 8.30 mins Jo-ann argues that improving the standard of analytics and increasing the diversity and inclusion of PR teams are vital parts of PR’s future prosperity.11.06 mins and 14 mins: Jo-ann discusses the benefits of being part of a large, publicly owned group during the pandemic.12.15 mins Jo-ann compares the performances of independent and group owned PR firms during the lockdown.16.06 mins Jo-ann discusses why PR tends to fare better in times of crisis than other areas of the marcomms mix, such as advertising.18 mins As a relatively new leader, what has Jo-ann learnt about herself during the pandemic?19 mins Jo-ann talks about how she’s had to use her “Glaswegian negotiating skills” during the crisis - but also how it’s important to understand that you “can’t win every battle.”20 mins Jo-ann talks about the type of business Ketchum UK will be coming out of the lockdown.21.30 mins How the lockdown has seen more a more entrepreneurial spirit within Ketchum UK.22 mins Jo-ann hopes that Ketchum’s Bankside offices will be open from Sept 1st.  

Today on the PRmoment podcast, I’m talking to Matt Peacock, partner at Blurred, about something that I suspect six months ago few of us had heard of – no not Covid, but ESG! Environmental, Social, and Governance refers to the three central factors in measuring the sustainability and societal impact of an organisation. Matt is a partner at Blurred, an ex-corporate affairs director at Vodafone, and visiting professor at Henley Business School. Here’s a summary of what Matt and I discussed:2.03 mins Why is ESG the most important development for public relations and business in the last 50 years? 2.13 mins How ESG is a way to assess the environment and governance risk of business. 3.33 mins Why ESG is a mindset change for business risk management – it forces companies to think about the risk of a company to the outside world.  6.20 mins Purpose is about how a company proves it does good. 7.55 mins How ESG now forms part of any standards assessment of any institutional investor framework. 08.17 mins How, to be an ESG leader, as a business, you have to have mature ESG governance processes. 08.35 mins Why companies that have a strong ESG performance have a significant cost of borrowing advantage. 11 mins For example, in the US, the cost of capital is 1% cheaper and the cost of debt 0.8% cheaper if you have a high ESG rating. So that adds up if you have $40bn of debt. 13.30 mins There is a lot of evidence that companies with a high ESG raring are more resilient. 14 mins Where within a company do you need to make progress to increase your ESG rating? 14.30 mins How ESG is an amalgamation of things – so you can’t sort it all out at once. And Matt explains how the Sustainability Accounting Standards  Board (SASB) has become the standard way to assess and measure ESG performance. 18.54 mins Matt predicts that ESG will become the pre-eminent disciple for the corporate affairs profession, worldwide. 19 mins Why the corporate affairs department is central to ESG. 19.20 mins Why ESG has no one owner within a business. 21.50 mins Why the assessment of ESG scores is the wild west! 24 mins How the subjectivity of many of ESG’s KPIs is still a challenge. 24 mins The scramble within the advisory world to be seen as the ESG experts: law firms, accountancy firms, management consultants and communication advisors are all targeting this space. 25.30 mins Why the importance of the communications of ESG means PR firms are well-positioned to lead ESG consultancy. 28 mins Where do you go to learn more about ESG? 29.20 mins What ESG consultancy looks like.   

In the latest of our 'career stories' themed interviews, we talk to Frank co-founder Andrew Bloch.To those of you that are surprised that Andrew hasn't been on the show before, we can confirm that he hasn't, and he's definitely in the category of one of those guests that we've been saving up!As many of you will know, Andrew co-founded Frank PR in 2000 and it has become one of the UK's largest consumer shops with a fee income of approximately £8m in 2019.Here are some of the themes Andrew and PRmoment Podcast host Ben Smith discuss on the show:02.30 mins Why did Andrew decide to leave Frank?04.04 mins How did Andrew tell Frank’s Chairman, Graham Goodkind, who he had worked with for 20 years, that he wanted to leave.04.05 mins Andrew outlines his plan, post-Frank.06.38 mins Why Andrew doesn’t want to set up another PR firm.07.00 mins Andrew tell us how he came to write, perhaps, The Worlds Most Expensive Press Release!07.44 mins On how he started his career in PR, Andrew says he “ended up at Lynne Franks PR” essentially because he was frustrated that he hadn’t been able to get into advertising.08.40 mins How it was “pure luck” that he met Graham Goodkind at Lynne Franks PR. Andrew says he owes Graham “everything” in terms how his career has developed since.09.25 mins Andrew talks us through how many of the class of '95 at Lynne Franks PR have gone on to do amazing things in their careers.10.37 mins Does Andrew regret not moving to a senior in-house role?13.31 mins Why Andrew turned Graham Goodkind down 3 times before agreeing to join him in setting up Frank.16.52 mins Andrew gives us his highlights of the Frank story.18.14 mins Andrew says building a strong brand for Frank was the most important element in building the business.21.33 mins Andrew tells us why he and Graham sold Frank after only 7 years.22.36 mins Andrew talks us through what purchasers of agencies are looking for and what a realistic valuation, in terms of a ratio to profit, is for a PR firm currently.25.08 mins Why now is a very good time for PR mergers and acquisitions.26.00 mins Andrew talks about his new role as an advisor to PCB Partners, advising them on PR acquisitions.37.00 mins Franks growth plateaued 11/12 years in. In hindsight, Andrew discusses why that happened and how they got the business’s momentum back.38.30 mins Andrew talks about why Frank didn’t scale internationally to the extent some other PR firms have done.42.40 mins Andrew talks about his relationship with Graham Goodkind.47.00 mins Andrew defines the type of PR person he is - and how he hopes PR will remember him!

This week, in the latest of our PR Reset series about how the PR world and the wider economy might reset post the Covid-19 lockdown, I’m talking to PRCA director general Francis Ingham. It’s explosive stuff, the highlights are below, but Ingham believes approximately 5,000 UK PR people are likely to be made redundant and claims “The majority of people on furlough within our industry have no idea what’s coming their way”.Ingham also reveals the PRCA will come out of the Covid lockdown about 25% down in revenue year on year.Here’s a summary of what Francis and I discussed:1.15 mins “The PR sector has taken a hit (from Covid-19) and there are further hits coming”.1.54 mins The PR industry is currently in a recovery stage2.03 mins “The majority of people who on furlough are going to be made redundant”.3.55 mins “The majority of people within furlough within our industry have no idea what’s coming their way”.4.35 mins “The industry is going to be hit hard and it’s not through the worst of it yet”.5.25 mins Ingham predicts that of the 100,0000 people who work in UK public relations, 10-20,000 of those were furloughed and roughly half of those will be made redundant. So approximately 5,000 people.6.00 mins The sector, in terms of the number of people it employs, is going to return to the levels of three years ago.6.20 mins The medium-term prospects for the sector are good but there is “a great deal of pain to come.”7.20 mins Many agency heads either don’t realise the end of the year is going to be tougher than the start of the year, or they are putting out unreasonably optimistic messaging”.9.30 mins On redundancies: “In the next week or so many PR firms will begin the consultation process with a view to losing people at the beginning of August.”11.20 mins How in-house PR teams are “busier than ever, but are certainly spending less money.”14.40 mins Why the healthcare, corporate and public affairs sectors are bullish about business currently.16.20 mins Ingham says: “The recovery we’re seeing in Asia can give us a degree of optimism.”18.53 mins “When we look back in five years’ time at this period and its impact on public relations, the greatest problem coming out of Covid may be the further decline of the media”.23.15 mins “The problem now is the accrued debt that has got to be repaid, that is the key issue affecting our industry”.24.10 mins The PRCA “is going to come out of the crisis smaller... we’ll end this financial year about a quarter smaller than we began it. And that will be sad for me... It was a pretty dramatic drop off a cliff.” 26.40 mins When asked for a prediction on the prospects for the UK economy, Ingham says “He has no idea! And anyone who says they have is making it up as they go along. But you can prosper during recessions.” 

This week, we're starting a new series called PR Reset, where I'm catching up with the CEOs of some of the UK's most prominent PR firms to talk about how they see their business, the PR world and the wider economy resetting post the Covid-19 lockdown. First up, we've got the founder of W Communications Warren Johnson. Frankly, Warren’s on even more punchy form than ever! Here’s a summary of what we discussed: 2.12 mins How Warren has managed the coronavirus lockdown crisis for W. 2.50 mins Warren describes the first week of lockdown as “the worst of his professional career.” 2.52 mins How Warren and his FD had to renegotiate “something like 42 client contracts in the first two or three weeks” of lockdown. 3.20 mins How he saw his “job as trying to make sure money didn’t leave (W Communications) for good.” 3.40 mins How W took an “aggressively commercial approach to its cost base” during the lockdown. 3.52 mins How W’s “EBIT didn’t take much of a hit during the lockdown, but revenues were 8-10% down.” 4.16 mins Warren denies that W was spending £4K a month on cereal, beer and flowers pre-Covid. And how not being in the office actually “saves a vast amount of money”. 07.05 mins Why being independent and being able to make quick decisions helped W during this period – for example getting out of the office before lockdown started reduced a lot of costs. 07.48 mins Why W has not reduced any of W’s staff salaries during lockdown, but instead took this as an “opportunity to trim the herd a little bit from some underperforming staff.” 08.10 mins W has brought in new CEO inn Rachel Friend (she started 1 July). Why did Warren decide that now was right the time was right to bring in an outsider into that position? 08.46 mins Warren explains he wants “W to be an agency as big as Weber, I don’t know what that looks like, so I need someone who does.” 08.59 mins Warren says: “There are very few people that we can work in partnership with. but when I put that list together, Rachel (Friend) was number one on that list.” 09.35 mins Warren says independents have had a better lockdown than the group owned forms because of their agility. 10.15 mins Warren predicts a two-speed recovery for the PR sector: “the better operators are already back on their A-game” 10.45 mins Warren says: “There is a slight nanny state evolving where people believe they need to be as far away from the office as possible.” 10.58 mins  Why after three months of working from home people need to come back into the office to collaborate. 11.04 mins “Zoom is not the right format to be creative.”  12.11 mins Many PR firms are looking to return the office in Sept – but W returned to the office from 1 July in a “beta” phase.  13.51 mins Warren’s “fog of lockdown has already lifted” and why he’s “keen more people experience that.” 14.09 mins How W’s employees were about “a third, a third, a third” when it came to their keenness to return to the office. 14.34 mins Most of the employees who were concerned about returning to the office were worried about the travel. 15.17 mins Some of W’s younger employees have given up flats in London and have moved back to their parents’ homes. 16.55 mins Warren says he’s “not sure whether we (W) can be in a position where we can have people working remotely permanently...s o that is going to present a few problems.” 17.05 mins PR people, especially junior PR “people have become overconfident in their sense of job security”. 18.05 mins This should be a 

Today, on the PRmoment Podcast, I'm talking to Julian Obubo, brand strategy director at Manifest London about "How to be an anti-racist company."Julian is a member of the leadership team at Manifest and, I know, has been a vital part of the agency's impressive growth in recent years.As has long been discussed, the diversity stats in PR are embarrassing with approximately 92% of the sector describing themselves as British White.If you’d like to understand more about the diversity challenges and the solutions to PR’s diversity problem, here are a whole bunch of diversity articles, podcasts, and videos where we've discussed the topic.Here are a few highlights of what Julian and I discussed:04.53 mins Why Julian believes the typical approach to improving diversity and inclusion is broken.06.55 mins Why one of the fundamental problems with the slow progress in the area of diversity is the lack of understanding of how interconnected the various issues are.09.30 mins As individuals, as companies and as a society we need to start thinking, educating, and acting differently.12.06 mins Why, as a society, our definition of racism is too narrow.16.05 mins Why racism is usually about how our all of our subconscious behaviours make BAME people feel - rather than far-right uneducated skinheads18.44 mins How did the term “not the right fit” ever become an accepted term within the interview process?21.00 mins A recognition that it’s difficult to hire BAME PR people at the moment - because there are not enough of them! But also a recognition that an effective PR team needs to mirror the society it communicates to. 25.10 mins Julian talks about Manifest’s reasons for signing up to the Blueprint process.27.20 mins Why Julian likens the attempts to increase the diversity of the PR sector to "mopping up and drying the floor without ever trying to fix the leak." 29.10 mins Why, when CVs of black people turn up in your inbox, you know you’re making some progress.31.35 mins If you’re at the start of your journey to increase the diversity of your PR firm - where do you begin?32.00 mins Why we all need to educate ourselves by understanding the sources of racism and lack of diversity in our society.37.02 mins Julian explains why he believes PR’s diversity has gone backwards in recent years.42.55 mins How our narrow definition of racism means that we fail to socialise with diverse groups. This means we are not able to recognise our own microaggressions and subtle racist behaviour within ourselves and our society.44.40 mins The difference between anti-racism and non-racism.45.52 mins How does PR start to increase its diversity? And realistically, what impact is likely in the short term (12-18 months), medium-term (2-5 years) and long term (5 years +?).   

Today we’re talking to Ruth Kieran, CEO of Cirkle, about how an independent firm like Cirkle has coped and responded to the Covid-19 crisis so far.Here’s a summary of what Ruth and I discussed:How has the Covid-19 pandemic impacted the business?     How the crisis has been very specific in the way it has impacted firms. For example, Cirkle has a lot of food and drink clients including Morrisons and Cafe Nero. Morrisons is extremely busy and Cafe Nero obviously had to shut all of its stores.      Ruth talks about the pressures of constantly having to review and re-scope work.     How many in-house comms teams are run off their feet at the moment.     How Cirkle has on-boarded clients since the lockdown began.     How Ruth and her senior colleagues prepared Cirkle for the lockdown in the days and weeks beforehand.     Why all firms need a good IT expert.      What Cirkle is doing to look after its employees in this working-from-home environment era.     Why do we all turn up to a Zoom call on time, but not to a physical meeting?     Whether Cirkle has furloughed any staff?     Why long-term planning and a rigid approach doesn’t work in this environment.     How client KPIs and objectives have changed since the lockdown started.     How has Ruth adapted and changed her own leadership style since the Covid-19 crisis kicked off?       The importance of empathy and kindness in business currently.     How Cirkle is preparing for the return of its employees to the office.     How working remotely can impact the culture of a business.      

This week on the PRmoment podcast, we've got Phil Hall, chairman of The PHA Group.For those of you that are not aware, Phil was the editor of the News of the World from 1995 to 2000. His old bosses included Piers Morgan and Rupert Murdoch – he was at the pinnacle of British tabloid journalism before he left it all behind in 2005 and founded Phil Hall Associates (Now The PHA Group).He started the business in his front room and his first client was none other than Paul McCartney.He went on to represent Heather Mills McCartney in the infamous divorce and has since built The PHA Group to have revenues of well north of £9m in the pre-Covid-19 world that we all used to enjoy.The PHA Group employs around 100 people.Here’s a flavour of what Phil and I discuss:How the Covid 19 crisis has impacted PHA Media.How making people redundant is the hardest part of running a business.       How PHA Media has won 20 new clients in the past few months.Phil talks us through the story of how he stared PHA Media including how his first client was Heather Mills McCartney, to now being a multi-sector PR firm with nearly 100 employees and outside investors.       Why Phil’s wife Marie gave up her job as a corporate lawyer to run the business side of things, which gave the business proper structure. This in turn, meant they kept their best people and could  grow the business.       A rollercoaster: How PHA media lost 40% of its fee income at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and has replaced 20% of that already.What Paul McCartney said to Phil when he told him he was going to represent his wife in their divorce case.Phil tells us how he ended up in Ecuador at a presidential palace in the middle of a coup, surrounded by machine guns.Phil tells us the story of how he got to know Piers Morgan, because of Piers Morgan’s grandad who was a pen friend of Myra Hindley and Ian Brady.Phil tells us why Rupert Murdoch was the best boss he ever had.Phil tells us why his time as editor of the News of the World was such a hard time of his career.Phil talks about why he lost his job over the Jeffrey Archer story, where, in effect, Rupert Murdoch’s best-selling editor had exposed his best-selling author.Phil tells us why he thinks the closing of the News of the World was “such a shame.”Why Phil took the gamble soon after he’d left his role as editor of the News of the World set up his own PR firm in his front room…Does Phil regret leaving journalism?Phil talks about how the growth of PHA didn’t really follow a strategy, it was more about how “we kept winning business.”Phil tells us about a couple of big exclusives early on in his journalism career.Phil gives his perspective of the phone-hacking scandal. Why Phil is a big believer in “jumping in with both feet and going for it” an approach that has stood him in good stead, like the time he ended up on the phone to Colonel Gaddafi.Why Phil has no problem working for the like of Qatar and Fred the Shred.Phill tells us about a time Princess Diana tipped him off about the James Gilbey story. What does Phil make of the challenges facing the media today?

This week, we welcome Tariq Ahmed, ex-group head of corporate communications at Liquid Telecom, to the PRmoment podcast. Here’s a summary of what Tariq and I discussed: In the context of the George Floyd racism protests in the US and throughout the world, including here in the UK, Tariq and I talk about his decision to change his name from Tariq Ahmed to Daniel Jacobs back in 2002 – when Tariq found he was unable to get a job in public relations as a Muslim man in the UK. How Tariq set up an experiment where he applied for the same job both as Tariq Ahmed and as Daniel Jacobs. He was invited for an interview as Daniel but not as Tariq. How until 9/11 Tariq had never experienced racism before. How Tariq got through that period of his life by trying to take the emotion out of it – he saw it as a personal re-branding exercise. He believed once you allow the emotion to stick, you start to become a victim, which he didn’t want. How the story had a happy ending when HP re-recruited Tariq, as Tariq Ahmed not as Daniel Jacobs. How statistics show that Muslim men are 72% less likely to be employed (when they apply for a job) than their white Christian counterparts. How the death of George Floyd was the result, not of Islamic fundamentalism, but of the fundamentalism of racist police officer. How racism in society has got worse, not better in most of our lifetimes. Why all organisations and employees must always call prejudice out. Ideally, to begin with, in a non-threatening way – but you must let people know how it makes you feel. How being Daniel Jacobs made Tariq feel like as a person. Why Tariq regrets, in many ways, changing his name back to Tariq Ahmed. Does Tariq believe he’d have a bigger job and be earning more money if his name had remained Daniel Jacobs? Tariq tells us how it’s easy to change your name in the UK. How as a society, we’ve taken a huge step backwards since 9/11. The terrorists won. Tariq talks us through some lessons around personal behaviour and personal choice from his 20 years of observing discrimination and being discriminated against. The prevalence of unconscious bias in our global society. Tariq talks about his time he’s spent in-house – all within the tech sector. Tariq talks about his passion for technology and how it can change people’s lives. Tariq talks about the challenges for tech firms coming out of the Covid-19 lockdown. 

This week we’re going to return to our roots - by going back to our regular career stories theme.We’ve pretty much covered the Covid-19 angle of PR and agency management if you want more info on that then have a listen to the past 5/6 episodes of the podcast, or have a look at the 25 plus Covid-19 articles on PRmoment.com - I think you’ll find all you need to know. It’s quite a body of work.This week on the PRmoment podcast, our guest is Alec Samways, CEO & head of creative strategy at Splendid Communications.Splendid was co-founded by Alec in 2004. It’s a creative consumer PR shop with approximately 40 employees and a fee income of £3.5m in 2019.Here’s a summary of what Alec and I discuss: Alec talks about how Splendid, as a consumer PR firm, has been impacted by Covid-19? How this period of lockdown is proving to be a reflection point for a lot of us about how we live our lives and our work-life balance.  How Alec is envisaging a hybrid office/working from home arrangement might work? Alec talks us through the story of Splendid - and the ups and downs along the way! Why Alec left his job as a management consultant for Datamonitor and ended up working in PR. Why Alec joined Slice PR because of his passion for music. Why Alec left Slice PR to set up Splendid in 2004. Why Alec describes Splendid as “being on the edge of the PR scene.” Whether Alec believes the PR sector still places too greater emphasis on media relations? Why the hierarchical approach to creativity that ad agencies tend to have, doesn’t work in PR. Alec talk us through what type of business is Splendid today, in terms of the breadth of work?  Alec glances towards the future and talks about what agency businesses might look like post lockdown and into 2021/22

On the PRmoment podcast this week, we’ve got Adrian Talbot who is the FD of Hotwire PR. He’s one of the most experienced FDs in public relations, having been at Hotwire for over four years, before that he was at BBH, College Hill (now Instinctif) and Burson Marsteller. As quick plug from me, if you haven’t booked already, then you don’t have long to book your tickets to our series of Lite events: We’re running online seminars on PR Analytics, The Intersection of PR and SEO and The Influence of Influence. Here’s a summary of what Adrian and I discussed: Whether the FD is currently the most important person in an agency business. What do agency owners/FDs need to do to manage their agency businesses through the Covid-19 lockdown and the 18 months that follow it. Whether most client budgets are in turmoil at the moment. In such uncertain times, communication is currently so much more important with your agency employees – beyond group Zoom calls how do you make sure everyone is OK? Whether clients are taking longer to pay since Covid-19 kicked off. How to judge which clients to show greater flexibility towards when it comes to payment. The importance of retaining working capital in all agency businesses currently. Whether Hotwire has taken advantage of the government’s furlough scheme. How one of the great challenges with the Covid-19 financial crash is that no one knows how long it is going to go on for. How can you possibly forecast that financially? Re-scoping work into digital is the current plan of PR agencies everywhere – how successful can that be as a strategy? Wasn’t most work digital already? As the FD of a global PR firm, what global trends do you see client-side? 

On today’s show, we’ve got Chris Talago, VP PR and communications JAPAC and EMEA at Oracle. Chris is going to be giving us an in-house communicator’s perspective on the Covid-19 lockdown. Here’s a flavour of what Chris and I discuss: How have the comms team at Oracle coped with the Covid-19 crisis so far? What message is the comms team trying to get across at the moment?      Why Covid-19 requires a fundamental rethink of communications, not merely a pause on the status quo.      Whether the technology sector is insulated more than most to the financial meltdown we’re seeing in the economy.      Has the way Oracle is working with its agency partners changed since the Covid-19 lockdown kicked off? Has it reduced budgets or just rescoped work?      Why the fast-paced changed we’ve seen over the last five years in communications just got a lot quicker.      What’s it like as an in-house communicator during the Covid-19 lockdown?      How should in-house communicators manage their companies’ reputations through the Covid-19 crisis?      Some agencies, particularly those working in the tech sector, are faring better, but in travel and hospitality I’ve heard of agencies being 70% down, many consumer agencies are down between 30% and 50%. Chris and I discuss how this is the beginning of a long, hard road.

This week I’m interviewing Amanda Coleman, Ex-head of Corporate Communications at Greater Manchester Police and author of the book Crisis Communication Strategies.Amanda has recently founded her own agency, Amanda Coleman Communications.Amanda and I are going to be looking at the UK governments’ communications performance since the Covid-19 crisis began.To emphasise, we are not attempting to assess the UK governments overall response to Covid-19 because neither Amanda nor I are scientists! We’re purely looking at the communications response.Here’s a flavour of what we discuss:Whether the speed that the virus took hold meant that the government’s communications response was likely to be too slow? How effectively central government has communicated its message to the public How central government has effectively retained control of its messaging - but this meant that it was less able to use the resources of local government and police communicators How the lockdown messaging is about to become more complex and why this may mean central government has to disperse some control of its communications Why the daily briefing worked well to start with but has lost momentum What the UK government has communicated well during this crisis. Amanda rates how well the government ministers have communicated through the Covid-19 crisis including Boris, Micheal Gove, Dominic Raab, Priti Patel, Rishi Sunak and Matt Hancock.  Amanda reveals why she decided to write her book “Crisis Communication Strategies: How to Prepare in Advance, Respond Effectively and Recover in Full!”   

On today’s show, we’re talking to Mandy Sharp, founder and CEO of Tin Man Communications. Mandy and I are going to be talking about her experiences of running a consumer PR firm during the Covid-19 lockdown. Here’s a summary of what Mandy and I discuss: How has it been for Mandy and Tin Man since the Covid-19 crisis kicked off?      Why one of the problems for consumer PR firms has been that a lot of their work is project-based.      Hilton is one of Tin Man’s clients, Mandy and I discuss this impact of Covid-19 on the account team and the client.     Whether Tin Man has furloughed any employees.     How Mandy has changed the priorities and financial targets for Tin Man for the next few months.     Mandy talks us through some stats from Tin Man’s Covid Tracker.     Mandy tells us when she hopes brand campaigns will return.     

On today’s show, we’ve got Crispin Manners and Richard Houghton, co-authors of ‘Grow, Build, Sell, Live: A Practical Guide to Running and Building an Agency and Enjoying It’, talking about the implications of the Covid-19 crisis for PR firms. Here’s a summary of what we discuss:Most agencies have now dealt with the short-term demands of the Covid-19 crisis, but how helpful have the various government schemes been for UK PR firms? Is pride getting in the way of some firms putting some of their employees on furlough? In justifying why furloughing isn’t necessarily the right thing to do, Crispin refers to the Harvard Business article Roaring Out of A Recession. Once agency owners have dealt with the first wave of imminent decisions, what’s next on the to-do list? People, cash, fee forecast, landlords and agency leaders need to look after themselves. Why clients will try and find a way to say that things need to stop. but agencies must find a way of staying relevant to clients and prospects by delivering against the client’s business pain. Why Simon Sinek’s New York Times Conference speech on Why Does Your Business Exist? is a useful listen for PR agency ownersAll agencies are going to have to evolve, but what might that look like? Are we witnessing the death of the open-plan office with firms converting to a hybrid operating model?    Budgets are going to be tough for a while, so PR’s ability to show return on investment is going to be crucial.  Why agencies need to shift the way they price their services – from a time-based structure to a value-based structure. Why we’re in a phoney war at the moment; some PR firms are not making redundancies because they are relying on government support. How do PR employers need to reshape their businesses post Covid-19? Whether the era of PR agency sector specialisation has just backfired?  Once we come out to this what’s the ‘new normal’ going to look like for PR firms? 

Today on the PRmoment podcast were chatting with Julietta Dexter who is Founder and CEO of The Communications Store.Julietta has recently launched the book ‘Good Company: How to Build a Business without Losing Your Values’ which talks about Julietta’s personal story of lessons learned in the workplace and how to navigate a successful career while holding onto one’s personal beliefs and values.The Communications Store was founded in 1995, is a privately owned communications firm with an income of £16m and employs 200 people – 180 in London and 20 in the US. It specialises in fashion, beauty and lifestyle.Julietta welcome to the PRmoment podcast.[00:02:04] How, as a business owner, COVID-19 has taught Juilettta that things don't always go according to plan![00:02:20] Why the COVID-19 lockdown has meant Juiletta has had to let go of some of her ambitions, re-envision and remodel. [00:02:37] Why you can never communicate well enough in a time of crisis.[00:03:05] How have the fashion, beauty and lifestyle businesses been affected by COVID-19 so far? [00:05:26] Julietta talks us though why The Communications Store has looked at the UK government’s furloughing scheme but hasn't yet used it.[00:07:29] How The Communications Store has implemented a 20 percent pay cut across the business in the UK. [00:09:07] Why, despite wondering whether the world needs another business book, Julietta decided to write one![00:14:16] How do you bring the values of a business to the fore every day?[00:15:36] Why The Communications store's values are passion, care, strength and wisdom.  [00:20:58] After 25 years in business Julietta describes herself "as more of what I was. ... I think I've worked out who I am. And I'm perhaps a little bit more confident about knowing who I am and believing in those values a bit deeper. "[00:22:19] As a firm that services the fashion sector, has there been tension between how some of your clients treat their people and the way treat your employees?[00:23:16] Why junior people being second class citizens in the workplace is just wrong, particularly now in a tech-driven mobile digital world where somebody of 25 years old knows a ton of stuff that an older person doesn't know. [00:25:09] Why the softer skills and emotional intelligence are critical to running a successful business. [00:27:53] How emotional intelligence is about reading other people. It's about understanding those around you and what they are really thinking and feeling.[00:30:15] Is the reality is a lot softer stuff that creates a good culture we're cut back about three weeks ago when the COVID-19 lockdown started?[00:32:35] What parts of the business world will get back to normal post the COVID-19 crisis and what parts might have changed forever?   

Welcome to the latest podcast with Iain Anderson, Executive Chairman at Cicero/AMO.We’ve put our life stories podcasts on pause as they just don’t feel appropriate at the moment - so today Iain and I are going to be talking about Covid 19: The media, the politics, and the communications.Here is a summary of what Iain and I talk about:[00:02:12] Iain tells us how he's finding it as a business person working through the Covid-19 crisis.[00:02:46] How as a PR professional Iain feels privileged and fortunate to be able to continue to work, as there are plenty who don't have that luxury at the moment.[00:03:35] What sort of challenges are Iain's clients facing currently?[00:04:55] How PR firms, since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak, have become centres of constant communication for employees - with almost back to back video calls and it's become pretty intense! [00:05:10] Why there's a real hunger to be able to continue to make business happen in the UK.[00:06:28] How clients have settled into this new way of working.[00:06:57] As a citizen of London Iain reflects on how the city has changed over the past month. [00:11:12] Why this has been by far the most difficult crisis period of Iain's career. [00:11:28] How politicians, the regulators and businesses have all made mistakes during this crisis - because we're all human.[00:13:49] How, in communications terms, Iain believes the “fairest assessment of the government’s response is that they have picked up speed."[00:16:04] How some of the major tech giants. "have been pretty muscular in removing (Covid-19) fake news off their platforms"[00:20:30] How Asia-Pacific China is recovering and has been able to get back to work.[00:21:34] How our media consumption habits have changed now we're all working from home.[00:25:03] With the Labour leadership result this weekend, does Iain see the cross political party unity holding?

We discuss how different sectors are affected, what the impact of the government’s furloughing scheme will be on the PR business, how the government’s business interruption loans can work, and the impact of Covid-19 on employees and clients to date.Here’s a summary of what we discussed:I’m conscious we have international listeners, to confirm the government schemes we’re talking about in this show are the UK government's schemes.Rachel Bell interview:[00:01:35] What types of businesses, in terms of clients, have reduced their spend so far.[00:03:21] How, almost without exception, new business wins for agencies are on hold. [00:03:35] How some sectors and services are more exposed than others. [00:04:57] How all client-variable expenditure is under huge scrutiny.[00:05:09] Why agencies need to be able to repurpose client spend into something that creates a new opportunity for brands.[00:05:47] Rachels's step-by-step guide for agency owners in this Covid-19 crisis. [00:06:15] Why all companies must immediately get a handle on their expenditure.[00:06:45] How landlords, in the main, have been amenable to giving a rent holiday.[00:07:37] Why agency owners must scenario plan and understand what their business will look like if they were to lose 25%, 50% and 75% of their contracted income. [00:08:25] Why an understanding of fixed costs and marginal costs is essential for agency businesses to survive the Covid-19 crisis especially given the impact of the various government schemes.[00:10:35] Why the government's furloughing means agencies do not need to run at a loss. [00:11:46] Why the furloughing scheme is a very good scheme for PR firms.[00:14:02] The importance of cash flow for PR firms right now.[00:14:32] How the government's tax payment holidays may help with your cash flow.[00:14:54] How the business interruption loans works and how it can be a fairly straightforward process for businesses to apply, as long as they can show themselves to be profitable prior to Covid-19.[00:18:07] How do brands need to communicate with people now that we're all at home, all of the time. David Fraser interview: [00:22:51] David gives his perspectives on how the PR agency world is faring two weeks into Covid-19.[00:24:13] As cashflow is so vital for all businesses at the moment, how is David attempting to retain cash in Ready10?[00:26:23] How luck has played a prominent role in deciding which agencies have been more/less effective by Covid-19; it will depend on the sectors that you have clients within.[00:29:18] David discusses the impact of the Covid-19 lockdown on his employees.[00:31:07] How the tone of communications is more important than ever.

This week on the PRmoment podcast, we've got Jo Carr, co-founder, and chief client officer at Hope&Glory.   Hope&Glory was co-founded by Jo Carr and James Gordon-MacIntosh in 2011. It now has a fee income of circa £8.5 million, employs about 80 people and grew by 25% in 2019.   [00:01:26] How Jo originally wanted to be a journalist or work in advertising.   [00:03:33] How Jo was originally a corpsumer PR person and made the switch to consumer relatively late in her career.   [00:08:15] Jo talks about the importance of being able to be yourself at work: “I'm a big believer that you should be the same person at work as you are at home".   [00:09:30] Why Jo's time at QBO Bell Pottinger was such an important time of her career.  [00:11:43] Whether the relatively painful merger of QBO and Bell Pottinger Consumer has had an influence on Jo not wanting to sell Hope&Glory so far?[00:14:57] How Jo meeting James Gordon-MacIntosh was a career-defining bit of luck.   [00:17:11] Jo tells us how it felt being the new kid at 77PR – joining an established management team of Alan Twigg and James Gordon-MacIntosh.   [00:18:32] How James, Alan and Jo approached Omnicom to try and do an MBO of 77PR, but got knocked back.   [00:20:33] Why once you've thought about creating your own agency, it's very hard to put the "genie back into the bottle".   [00:21:18] Why James and Jo decided to get backing from Lansons Communications when they launched Hope&Glory.   [00:22:37] What it was like starting Hope&Glory with literally no clients!   [00:25:50] How Hope&Glory won 02 just a couple of months after starting.   [00:27:08] Why James’s and Jo's skills complement each other.   [00:30:24] What advice does Jo have for any budding PR entrepreneurs out there?   [00:36:53] How has Hope&Glory managed to hold on to so many large consumer accounts for such a prolonged period?   [00:39:39] Why agencies don't want to "be a leaky bucket".   [00:40:22] How Hope&Glory has improved its margins in recent years.   [00:45:00] What's the plan for the next stage of Hope&Glory? Why James and Jo can't make all the decisions anymore.   [00:46:34] Are independent agencies currently more fun, more flexible, and perhaps a bit easier to lead than their group-owned peers?      

It’s a bit of an owned-media special this week!    In the latest show, we talk to Will Sturgeon, head of content and thought leadership at PwC. Will talks us through PwC’s content strategy and explains why he believes the opportunity for owned-media content, distributed via a business’s experts, has never been greater.   In the UK, PwC has 22,000 employees and 900 partners and operates across multiple vertical sectors and disciplines. Will has a content team of about 10 people.   Here’s a flavour of what Will and I discuss:   [00:01:37] Will talks us through some of the set-piece content pieces that PwC does – including its Annual CEO Survey.   [00:01:51] How an organisation like PwC with 22,000 people in the UK and 900 partners, develops a co-ordinated content strategy.   [00:02:25] How the concerns of CEOs have changed over the last 23 years.   [00:03:28 ] How PwC's owned content also includes the UK Economic Outlook Report and its Women in Work Index as well as reports into prominent social issues such as gender pay and ethnicity pay.   [00:04:09] How the reports that PwC produces reflects the structure of its organisation.    [00:04:28] What is the role of a content department in an organisation like PwC – does all the content have to go through Will's team?    [00:06:34] How does the team behind the content work – in terms of the co-ordination between the partners, the partners’ staff and the content team?   [00:06:53] Why PwC has restructured to develop a centralised marketing centre of excellence that breaks down across content, digital and campaigns.    [00:08:54] What are the rules PwC follows to ensure it produces engaging content?   [00:10:04] How B2B content is often different to B2C content   [00:10:42] How B2B communicators are learning from the consumer world.   [00:10:45] Why B2B podcasts will become an important part of the communications mix.  [00:11:15] What mix of content does PwC produce and what works?   [00:13:17] How B2B communicators must understand the links between the different channels.   [00:14:20] How Will's team aims to provide engaging content for PwC's people to use in their individual networks.   [00:14:53] Why PwC is using content to try and change people's perceptions of the business. [00:15:55] Why Will doesn't want his team to produce every piece of content, but he does want to influence every piece of content.   [00:16:09] Why Will's team is producing best practice guides for writing social media content and blogs.   [00:17:08] Why PwC has rationalised and reduced the number of blogs it produces across the organisation to approximately 15.   [00:19:32] What are PwC's content objectives? Reach, share of voice, new business?   [00:21:49] Why the opportunity for branded and owned content is greater now than previously.    [00:22:40] How trust trends, like those identified in the Edelman Trust Barometer, are making the opportunity for owned content greater.    [00:23:55] Why owned content does not come without its risks for brands and must be used responsibly.    [00:24:46] Why there is a huge opportunity here for brands to create, maintain and grow relationships through publishing information and content to audiences.    [00:25:17] How well have B2B brands embraced the opportunities of becoming a publisher by forming an

This week on the PRmoment podcast, we’re taking another change of tack – we’re talking about virtual agencies with Tamara Littleton, CEO and founder of The Social Element.   There are plenty of virtual agencies around, but not that many have managed to scale to the size of The Social Element. It’s a 300-people (100 staff, 200 freelancers), £9m virtual consultancy business operating internationally.   Here’s a flavour of what Tamara and I talked about:   [00:02:01] How paid media is more prominent than organic content on most social channels these days.   [00:02:40] Tamara discusses the three Cs of Social: creative, consultancy and communications.   [00:03:26] How Tamara has scaled her virtual agency to a £9m business of 300 people across Europe, the UK and the US.   [00:05:14] Tamara talks us through the structure of a virtual business like The Social Element.   [00:06:12] How the key to building a virtual agency is identifying people who are comfortable in their own company and then building the technology and organisation on top.    [00:06:38] How do you create a virtual employee community?   [00:06:56] Tamara talks us through the tools she uses to run her virtual agency.   [00:08:35] How Tamara can run her entire agency on her mobile phone.   [00:12:15] Why Tamara decided to launch a virtual business.   [00:13:02] How her experiences of online webmaster forums gave Tamara the inspiration to set up her own virtual agency.   [00:14:09] Why The Social Element's virtual structure meant Tamara could scale it more quickly internationally.   [00:15:33] Tamara discusses the disadvantages of being a virtual business.   [00:16:30] Is it more difficult to get age diversity in a virtual agency structure?   [00:17:23] Why virtual agencies may spend less on office costs, but they will need to have staff meet-ups where they invest in training, fly people in and stay in hotels.   [00:17:58] How a sense of isolation and mental wellbeing can be one of the downsides for employees working virtually.   [00:19:21] How does the interview process work for a virtual agency?   [00:20:09] Has Tamara hired people she's never met?   [00:22:38] Is the work, in terms of its outputs, different for a virtual agency?   [00:24:16] Why the creative element of the work is the most difficult bit of being virtual.   [00:24:31] How are the account teams organised in a virtual agency?   [00:29:40] How 60% of The Social Element’s revenue is now from the US.   [00:34:52] Why online customer services is now an opportunity for brands to have a great conversation with consumers.   [00:37:39] How Tamara spends about a third of her week on video calls.

This week on the PRmoment podcast, I’m interviewing Louise Turner, head of Edelman Intelligence UK & Ireland.Louise talks to us about Edelman’s annual Trust Barometer research for the UK  in a global context.[00:02:23] How trust in the institutions that govern our society collapsed during the 2008 financial crash and has never recovered.[00:02:42] How the Edelman Trust Barometer measures trust in our government, in our media, businesses and in the NGO sector.[00:03:26] How there is a massive difference of 14 trust points between the Informed public, people in the upper quartile of household income and the mass population.[00:04:26] How economic pessimism is a key driver of the gap in trust.[00:05:49] How globally we no longer trust the leaders of our government, the leaders of our businesses or the leaders of our media institutions.[00:07:01] The rise of everyday activism and its implications for trust.[00:07:34] What are the results of society having less trust in its institutions?[00:08:56] Why the UK data shows that one of our biggest worries is around declining tolerance in society.[00:09:45] Why the UK is second to bottom in the global trust rankings, above only Russia.[00:11:25] How trading uncertainty (Brexit) and the divide between the rich and poor are the major drivers of UK pessimism.[00:12:12] Louise talks us through the most trusted channels of communications – comparing traditional media, search engines, owned media and social media.[00:19:11] How businesses and NGOs have better trust scores than the media and the government.[00:20:49] How 53% of people in the UK have lost faith in “capitalism as it exists today.” [00:22:40] How communicators can try to increase levels of trust.[00:25:39] How employer trust scores are very high.[00:25:58] Why partnerships between institutions will be key in rebuilding trust.[00:27:31] The link between purpose and trust[00:28:02] Louise identifies the key elements of trust: competence and ethics. There are three drivers of ethics – integrity, dependability and purpose.

This week on the PRmoment podcast, I’m interviewing Rachel Pendered, managing director of Media Zoo.Media Zoo has a fee income of circa £13m and approximately 130 employees. It’s an independent PR firm in London. It was co-founded by Rachel and Mark Killick in 2003.Before she co-founded Media Zoo, Rachel worked for the BBC and Channel 4 as a TV producer.Here’s a summary of what Rachel and I discuss: [00:01:30] Why have we seen so many women leave their agency CEO jobs in the last 12 months.[00:06:51] Why Rachel believes it's much harder to become a successful female entrepreneur than a male entrepreneur.[00:07:22] How just 8% of start-up funding goes to women.[00:10:08] How can we encourage more female entrepreneurs?[00:12:21] Why entrepreneurship is all about imagination.[00:13:28] Rachel talks to us through some stats from The Rose Review, a piece of research looking at why there are fewer female entrepreneurs in the UK. [00:13:34] How, if we were to close the entrepreneurial gender gap, we would potentially add £250 billion to the UK economy in the next 10 years.[00:16:27] Where women can find out more information about becoming entrepreneurs.[00:19:03] Why Rachel set up Media Zoo in 2003.[00:20:23] Why Rachel didn't enjoy being employed.[00:21:08] How, originally, the plan for Media Zoo was for it to be a network of production freelancers – but things soon changed…[00:25:16] How Rachel has built the Media Zoo to become a £13m firm alongside Mark Killick.[00:26:50] How did Rachel create a culture of entrepreneurship at Media Zoo?[00:27:27] How has Media Zoo grown to a £13m fee income when lots of its independent agency peers have not? [00:29:11] Why Media Zoo has brought all its production services in-house. [00:29:35] Why Media Zoo has never made any acquisitions.[00:32:20] Rachel talks about her working relationship with Mark Killick. [00:37:27] How Media Zoo has diversified through its content engine proposition.[00:38:46] Rachel talks about Media Zoo’s embedded client team strategy of six to 12-person teams typically on one- to three-year contracts.[00:40:12] Rachel talks about Media Zoo’s expansion plans into Scotland, Switzerland and the US next year. [00:43:54] With many economic forecasters predicting a recession is on the way – Rachel recalls what she did after the 2008 financial crash that helped her business to survive.

This week on the PRmoment Podcast I’m interviewing Mitch Kaye, co-founder and CEO of The Academy.The Academy has a fee income of approximately £4.3m, it’s an independent PR firm in London. It has 50 employees and was co-founded by Mitch Kaye and Dan Glover in 2014. Mitch previously founded Mischief which he sold to Engine within five years of its launch in 2006.The Academy describes itself as an agency that is both creative and strategic. Clients include: Amazon, Morrisons and Xero. Here’s a few of the highlights of what Mitch and I discussed: [00:02:02] Why Mitch describes himself as a hustler. [00:02:34] Why Mitch even now feels he “needs to prove a point”. [00:03:17] Mitch's parents, both in their 70s, still run a flooring business in Bournemouth and why they are Mitch's inspiration.  [00:04:06] Why Mitch fell out of love with journalism, his first career choice. [00:05:24] Why working at Sky was an "epiphany moment" for Mitch. [00:07:41] Mitch defines his core skills as being good at "making things happen". [00:08:28] I ask Mitch whether his job is essentially to monetise Dan Glover's ideas?  [00:08:51] Mitch describes Dan Glover as "the most talented person I've met". [00:10:36] Mitch talks us through his 20-year business relationship with Rachel Bell  [00:10:40] Why Rachel was two and a half hours late to Mitch’s job interview with Shine!  [00:14:44] Why Mitch moving to Geronimo (now Kindred) and meeting Karen Harris was an important part of his career, bearing in mind what was about to happen next. [00:17:54] Why Mitch describes the time he went back to Shine in 2004 as "the most difficult time of my career". [00:19:45] Mitch talks about when he "really changed direction and took a look at my style of working – because it wasn't going to be enough to get me through the rest of my career."  [00:22:28] Mitch talks about how Mischief came about. [00:26:08] How Mitch had a series of profit and revenue targets at Mischief – and each time he hit one, he got 10% of the business. [00:27:01] How Mitch almost missed the opportunity to interview Dan Glover – a relationship that would come to define both of their careers.  [00:28:21] How Mitch didn't have the budget to afford Dan's salary when he first hired him, so he paid him from his own salary.   [00:30:19] How did Mitch build, sell and ultimately leave Mischief?  [00:33:22] Why Mitch believes if you want to sell a business you cannot approach anyone, they have to approach you. All you can do is build a great business. [00:38:47] Why Dan and Mitch set up their second PR start up – The Academy.  [00:41:42] Why did Shine and The Academy merge in 2016? [00:45:38] Mitch tells us what it's like "running a business with your best friend".  [00:47:08] Having built two PR firms and sold one Mitch gives some advice for people who are looking to set up on their own. [00:48:57] Is it harder to sell a PR consultancy in the UK than ever?

This week on the PRmoment podcast I’m interviewing Greg Jones, managing director of Mischief.Mischief has a fee income of approximately £5m and employs 55 people. It’s part of the Engine Group. Mischief’s sister PR agency within Engine is the corporate shop MHP.Greg’s a rare example in PR of a creative director who has got the top job.He started his career at Shine, before stints at Slice (Engine’s consumer PR firm at the time) and then moving to M&C Saatchi before co-founding his own business called Glass Jar. He then moved on to Splendid and finally back to Engine joining Mischief as creative director before getting the CEO job last year, when Frankie Cory left.[00:01:49] Greg talks us through how he took over as the CEO of Mischief when Frankie Cory left last year. [00:03:19] Why hustle has remained part of the Mischief DNA from the day that it was formed by Mitchell Kaye. [00:03:56] Why there have been three stages of Mischief. [00:04:10] How can creative agencies age and retain their “heat”?[00:04:34] Was Greg surprised when Frankie Cory left?[00:05:28] Why the agency CEO role is such a stressful job.[00:05:55] How Greg looks back on his time at Shine with Rachel Bell, 10 years ago, as a vital part of him preparing for his current CEO role.[00:07:44] Why, when Greg knew Frankie Cory was going to leave, his instinct was not to go for the MD role.[00:09:08] Does Greg believe that we're going to see more creatives become the CEO of PR firms? [00:11:01] Why Greg, before he joined Shine in 2002, described himself as a "lost soul".[00:12:50] Why Rachel Bell gave Greg the self confidence he needed for his career to thrive – and why before meeting her, he didn't have that.[00:15:05] How Greg founded an agency called Glass Jar and eventually decided that running his own business was not for him. [00:21:16] How come Greg is a qualified psychotherapist? [00:27:54] Why brands increasingly want creativity that works in a consumer market and across a corporate context.[00:30:44] What type of work does Mischief do today? [00:32:48] As part of the Engine Group – to what extent does Greg work alongside his advertising and creative peers across shared clients?

This week on the PRmoment podcast, I’m interviewing Gerry Hopkinson, owner and CEO of Unity.Unity is a £2.7m fee income consumer PR consultancy based in London. Clients include the likes of Axa, Vue, Freesat and AEG. Unity’s fee income has grown by 30% in the last 12 months.Gerry is a Canadian who came to the UK aged 24. His early career was spent at PR agencies QBO and Band and Brown. He also had a stint in-house at Mastercard. Gerry co-launched Unity with Nik Govier in 2005.As many of our listeners will know Nik Govier left Unity in 2018. [00:01:43] Gerry tells us about Unity's hectic couple of years[00:04:59] What do brands want from their public relations? What is its function? What needs does public relations answer for clients and for wider society?[00:06:55] Why truth is, by its very nature, subjective. [00:07:23] How do you bring emotion to ideas and facts so that people really feel them and act upon them?[00:08:07] Why most politicians are either engineers or magicians. [00:10:42] Why modern public relations needs to be about psychology, social science and behavioural science.[00:13:15] Gerry talks about the concept of social proof and its relevance in communications – how we as humans tend to believe and want to do what others are doing.[00:16:03] Gerry describes the break up of his and Nik Govier’s partnership as "like a divorce" and how he still has still has "huge affection and admiration and respect for her."[00:16:20] How for many "relationships, there is a natural course. All things come to an end." [00:17:26] How Gerry went through a pretty formal process of self-criticism when Nik Govier left the business. Where he asked himself "What am I good at?” and "What am I not good at?"[00:24:12] Gerry explains what he means by the statement "Unity is my life".[00:25:06] Gerry identifies three things "that had come unstuck" at Unity version one. [00:28:31] Why learning is what gives Gerry the most enjoyment at work.[00:28:53] Why Gerry believes "for capitalism to survive, it must evolve."[00:30:01] How a lack of trust is eroding a lot of what we take for granted in civil society.[00:30:50] Why the way we create wealth and create jobs is starting to have a pretty serious and unsustainable impact on the world.[00:33:35] What does purpose mean to the SMEs of this world?[00:35:57] Over the course of his career, who have Gerry's mentors been and what has he learnt from them? [00:38:40] Why Gerry has built Unity's employer brand on "hustlers and dreamers."[00:40:22] Gerry talks us through the lessons he's learnt during Unity's tough times and the good times. [00:41:11] Why agencies must decide if they are consultants or outsourcers.[00:44:01] Unity as a business has often hovered just below the £3 million pound fee income level – Gerry talks about how he wants to break through that.[00:46:07] Why Gerry hopes Unity will make an acquisition or two...

Welcome to the second in a new mini-series of PRmoment podcasts where we interview the authors of books relevant to those who work in PR and communications.In the last year or so there have been a number of books launched by people I really respect in PR. Frankly, I don’t have time to read them all so, partly for selfish reasons, I thought I’d interview them on this show.Today I’m interviewing Kate Hartley, the author of Communicate in a Crisis: Understand, Engage and Influence Consumer Behaviour to Maximize Brand Trust.The book looks at the psychology of a crisis from the consumers’ perspective and focuses on how modern society engages/voices its outrage through social media and the implications of this for brands.Kate is the MD of independent PR firm Carot and the co-founder of crisis communications modelling training company Polpeo.Communicate in a Crisis: Understand, Engage and Influence Consumer Behaviour to Maximize Brand Trust is, needless to say, available from Amazon. Here is a summary of what Kate and I talk about:[00:02:18] How do ordinary people behave in a crisis situation and why do they respond in that way?[00:02:31] Why organizations often think about themselves in a crisis, what their response should be and how to protect their own reputation - but what they fail to do is to look at how people are behaving and the drivers behind that.[00:03:11] Why society is becoming more and more angry.[00:03:15] How as people we're becoming very polarized. [00:03:29] How social media has made these behaviors more visible; given them a digital footprint. [00:04:07] Why social media algorithms are driving anger in society. [00:05:01] Kate talks us through the ‘outrage cycle’ of social media.[00:06:33] The role social media plays in a corporate crisis.[00:07:27] How has social media changed the way that we behave as people in a crisis?[00:09:49] The echo chamber of anger that Twitter has become.[00:10:38] Why the traditional way of responding in a crisis of defining your message and then spamming that out across every possible channel is outdated.[00:15:44] How businesses need to have different scales of crisis.[00:17:19] Why the management of issues and the management of a crisis are different and businesses should respond differently to each.[00:19:33] How, for the five biggest corporate crises in the last few years, four out of five of the CEOs of those businesses didn't have their job six months later.[00:20:18] Kate talks us through the various stages of a corporate crisis: programmable, the crisis ark and recovery. [00:21:40] Why a company’s share price will normally recover quicker than its reputation post-crisis. [00:22:23] The truism that the "reputation you have going into the crisis is the one that sees you through it.”[00:24:18] Why, in a crisis situation, you have to communicate before you know everything. [00:25:03] Why silence in a crisis creates a gap for misinformation and fake news.[00:26:44] How to rebuild trust post-crisis.[00:27:58] How you can measure the impact and recovery from a crisis.[00:28:53] How can brands prepare for a crisis?[00:31:41] What early warning systems work to pre-warn you about a crisis?

On the PRmoment podcast this week we’ve got one of PR’s nice guys Justin Westcott.He’s currently got two jobs – not only is he chief operating officer of Edelman UK and Ireland, he’s also Edelman’s head of technology, EMEA.Justin started his PR career at Microsoft, before moving to August One and Inferno Communications. He joined Edelman in 2006.Edelman has a fee income of circa $890 million dollars and 5,500 staff and 60 offices globally.It’s an independent PR firm founded in 1952 by the last Daniel Edelman. It is currently run by his son Richard Edelman. As of 2018, it is the largest public relations firm in the world by revenue.Edelman has 600 staff in London.Here’s a flavour of what Justin and I discussed:[00:01:45] Why Justin really, really, really wanted to be a doctor but kept passing out![00:03:58] How he made the jump from IT recruitment to his first PR job in the Microsoft press office.[00:07:02] Why Justin prefers working agency side than in-house.[00:09:42] How Justin learnt the fundamentals of agency life during his time at August One.[00:13:05] Justin talks about why his time in the Middle East around 2010 was one of the most favourite parts of his career.[00:15:45] Justin talks us through his 13-year Edelman story, joining as an account director and now being COO in London and Head of Technology EMEA.[00:17:32] How does Edelman retain a cultural entrepreneurialism within such a big organisation?[00:18:38] Justin and I discuss whether there is an Edelman way of “doing” communications – a methodology that links the type work? [00:21:49] Why, if you join Edelman, Justin believes "your success within our firm can definitely accelerate or be accentuated by the relationships and the contacts you make."[00:24:26] How “a deep understanding of storytelling” underlines everything on Edelman's product and service tree.[00:25:32] Justin discusses why working with great planners was a career changing moment for him.[00:26:38] Why for the last 20 years PR has been on a journey of “unbundling the PR executive” by creating the “PR model of specialism.”[00:28:03] Why the transition of advertising planners into PR is an easier transition than advertising creatives into PR.[00:30:24] Why has Justin two jobs – head of technology, EMEA and CEO of Edelman UK and Ireland.[00:33:26] Justin talks us through the realities of running a large modern PR firm – how do you retain profitability when you now need to employ six specialists to do what one person used to do?[00:34:37] How has Edelman managed to outperform the market for the past 10 years or so by, in essence, simply cross-selling specialist related services in addition to its core PR offer?[00:37:28] Justin talks us through the practicalities of managing an agency of 600 people.[00:40:32] What does Justin put Edelman's reduced growth in recent years down to?[00:42:46] How Justin believes the last five years has been about “PR improving its strategic and creative rigour.”[00:42:55] Justin predicts that data, not from a data technologies perspective, but from a customer insight data perspective, will define the success of PR for the next five years.[00:44:33] Why "first party data is where the magic can happen." 

This week we’re changing tack again with the second of our mini series of podcasts looking at the use of data, technology and insight in communications.On the show is Petra Masinova, global director, reputation intelligence at Kantar.Petra has worked in senior in-house roles – so she understands what senior communicators want and need from their communications. She has also had big agency experience – having been CEO of McCann Worldwide in Prague.Petra has been the global CEO of Newton Media (a big European media measurement firm) before moving to the southern hemisphere’s biggest measurement player – iSentia as a global director.So she understands all aspects of PR’s data challenge – in-house, agency, national, international and technical.For those of you that don’t know WPP recently sold a 60% stake in Kantar to Bain Capital, the US private equity company in a deal expected to yield £2.47 billion to WPP and valuing Kantar at approximately $4bn.Here is a summary of what Petra and I discuss:[00:02:31] How the media monitoring and media measurement sector has changed in the last 10 years. [00:03:14] Why the head of comms or head of corporate communications role today is much more challenging than it used to be. [00:06:23] How the PR professionals are now looking for marketers’ budgets. [00:06:28] Why the broadening of PR’s remit is impacting the measurement KPIs.[00:08:40] How global and local companies are measuring their reputations.[00:10:33] Are companies spending more on data and insight more than they used to? [00:11:34] Why the most important thing for a data provider to deliver is relevancy and context.[00:13:01] How the next step for the measurement firms is to be able to deliver predictive intelligence.[00:14:27] Why consumers behaviour in social media is more predictable than that of journalists.[00:15:20] How the current generation of head of communications have different priorities than their predecessors. [00:16:03] Why data is no longer a support metric communicators – it's an illustration of whether or not people are good at their jobs.[00:16:50] A discussion about integrated measurement in businesses where there are normally multiple consumer touch points within the organisation.[00:21:32] What do comms people want from their measurement and insight partner? [00:22:27] How in-house comms teams are increasingly buying data consultancy services not from the PR agency.[00:24:40] Why the bigger companies are suddenly creating their own in-house data teams – and why this is a game changer. [00:25:31] Why, if you're an owner of data within a company, you're juggling imperfections because you've got different data sets.[00:28:11] Why PR agencies should not be trying to create their own measurement methodology.[00:31:16] Here's a link to AMECs Integrated Measurement Framework document and it's M3 resource which will help you understand where you are on your measurement journey relative to your competitive set.[00:37:17] What are the most popular KPIs in communications?[00:40:02] Post the Bain acquisition – what is Kantar's strategy?

Welcome to the first in a new mini-series of PRmoment podcasts were we interview the authors of books relevant to PR and communications people.In the last year or so there have been a number of books launched by people I really respect in PR – frankly, I don’t have time to read them all so, partly for selfish reasons I thought I’d interview them on this show.First up is someone who is returning to the PRmoment podcast for a second time – which I think is a first, welcome back Rachel Bell.For those of you that don’t know, Rachel is a serial PR entrepreneur and has a stake in a number or PR firms currently as well as being a non-exec on a range of different agencies.She founded Shine, co-founded Mischief, owns a significant percentage of The Academy, has a stake in Adhuro and John Doe.She’s also a non-exec in a number of firms including Don’t Cry Wolf and BECG.Rachel recently finished co-writing a book called Start-Ups, Pivots and Pop-Ups with Richard Hall.Here’s a summary of what discussed:[00:02:57] Why did Rachel decide to write a book?[00:04:14] How Rachel has a passion around entrepreneurship.[00:05:03] Here's a previous PRmoment podcast with Rachel where she talked in detail about the PR firms she launched.[00:08:44] How the idea behind the book is to give you 100 mentors in your back pocket. [00:10:08] How the book focuses on the golden nugget, the one bit of advice that other entrepreneurs that have built very successful businesses would give you.[00:11:53] The prominence of women in the Start-Up Revolution going on in the UK.[00:12:38] The characteristics that you need if you're thinking about starting a business.[00:13:51] When is the best time in life to launch your own business?[00:15:18] The huge responsibility that comes with being an employer.[00:16:19] Why entrepreneurs must not try and be an expert in everything.[00:19:18] The top five things entrepreneurs need.[00:20:36] What makes a good mentor? [00:21:47] Why every business needs one principal leader.[00:22:52] What do business leaders tend to get wrong?[00:26:42] How if you're running a consultancy business, you need to be running a 50% income to salary ratio, with 30% allocated for overheads and then you can get 20% managed margin.[00:27:50] Rachel talks about the Start-Up Revolution happening in the UK – there was a record 670,000 new businesses registered last year.[00:28:34] How women are swerving the glass ceiling by starting up their own businesses.[00:33:33] How businesses thrive because you create momentum, so you need to be the momentum creator.[00:35:03] How 70% of Millennials say they would like to start their own business.[00:38:20] How the 50+ age group is a third segment of society that is thriving in start-ups, many having been made redundant from their previous jobs. 

This week on the PRmoment podcast, we’re taking another change of tack – we’re talking about the pitching process and on the show we’ve got a PR buyer and a PR seller.On the buy side we’ve got Lenovo’s executive director, global corporate communications Charlotte West and on the sell side we’ve got 3 Monkey Zeno’s business development director Rebecca Wagstaffe.Here’s a summary of what Rebecca, Charlotte and I discussed:[00:01:19] What is a tissue meeting and are they a good idea?[00:04:30] How reliable is the "that went really well" feeling post the pitch?[00:06:45] How significant an influence do procurement tend to have in the decision making process? [00:08:38] How the pitch decision making scorecard will be weighted. [00:09:37] Charlotte talks us through Lenovo's score card for a recent pitch.[00:14:12] Is the pitch process really about the creative idea? Or is it more about how quickly you can build a relationship with people? [00:17:45] As only about 30% of what gets pitched gets activated, is the pitch process a 70% waste of everybody's time? [00:22:09] Are there big differences in the type of ideas and activations that agencies pitch for, or are they broadly along the same lines?[00:22:57] Is there a better way than pitching to start a business relationship between two companies?[00:24:19] Why there must be parity and equality in the relationship between the company buying the consultancy and the agency selling it.[00:26:09] How Lenovo ran its recent request for information (RFI) process, which only considered agencies that had a diverse range of employees.[00:28:50] Here's a link to a podcast where Lenovo's Torode Neptune talks at length about its approach to encouraging diversity in PR through a change in buying behaviour.[00:32:34] What techniques does 3 Monkeys Zeno use to you try and improve its chance of winning a pitch?[00:35:28] Why a successful pitch is still about science plus art which needs a level of magical creative thinking.[00:36:35] How the data piece of a pitch has become a staple now, it's just expected. [00:37:28] How on the buy side you must make sure that the key stakeholders are engaged in the process.[00:38:38] Why normally there are still only one or two decision makers for every pitch. Everyone else in an influencer.[00:39:02] How do clients decide which agencies to ask to pitch? [00:40:52] Charlotte talks us through Lenovo's scorecard approach at both the RFI and RFP stages.[00:43:09] How stories of agencies pitching and never being told that they lost or receiving feedback is down to bad manners client side.[00:48:27] How the minimum amount of time that goes into a pitch is about 100 hours.

Kaizo is an independent PR firm specialising in two areas – B2B technology PR and health and wellness. It has a fee income of about £3m and employs 30 people.   Steph and Rhodri Harries bought the business in 2011 and it’s an interesting story because fairly swiftly after that they lost three of their biggest clients.   The firm is now thriving again and clients include the likes of Avast, Pure Storage and Snap Logic.Here’s a summary of what Steph and I discussed:[00:02:25] How Steph and the board of Kaizo bought the business from the Argyle Group in 2011. [00:04:44] How post the deal to buy the business in 2011 – the worst case scenario happened and Kaizo lost it's three biggest clients. [00:05:11] How in 2011 Kaizo lost £1m in revenue, which at the time was 50% of the business. [00:05:56] Why Kaizo had to go back into a startup mentality. [00:09:07] How having money in the bank was "ultimately our (Kaizo's) saviour.” [00:12:54] How Kaizo use Net Promoter Scores as an important KPI to gauge the success of the business. [00:15:43] Why Steph's time at Firefly influenced the rest of her career.[00:19:11] Why Steph found her entrepreneurialism constricted in a big agency environment. [00:20:54] How Steph deliberately built her career to include big and small agency experience.[00:23:16] Why a consultancy business requires constant juggling. [00:28:02] How successful training is often about you having the will and desire to take what you've learned and implement it.[00:29:07] Why a consultancy businesses should not be about doing more stuff for clients...[00:31:36] How and why Kaizo decided to specialise in just two sectors: Technology and Health and Wellness, for the last 15 or so years. [00:35:18] A discussion on how Kaizo has focused on being a profitable, solid PR business over the last 10 years, rather than prioritising high levels of growth.[00:44:43] Why it's important for PR to counteract the Fake News agenda and help rebuild the public's trust in the media.[00:47:21] Why flexible working must be led by the senior team.[00:50:26] Why Steph's personal mantra is "don't be a dick." [00:51:20] How Kaizo has invested in one of its senior team to be trained as a mental health first aider. [00:53:39] How today's PR managers have had to adapt their management style to get the best out of their younger employees. 

This week, in the latest PRmoment Podcast, we’ve got a change of format.  In anticipation of the PRmoment Awards 2020 I thought it would be interesting to hear from some of the winners from the PRmoment Awards 2019.  So today I’m talking to Pete Mountstevens, CCO & Managing Partner at Taylor Herring, about its 'Spin Cycle: the launch of Samsung Quick Drive' campaign that won the Integrated Communications Campaign of the Year at the 2019 PRmoment Awards.   The early bird entry deadline for the PRmoment Awards 2020 is Dec 16th. All the categories are on the awards microsite. Here’s a flavour of what Pete and I talked about:  [00:01:42] Pete tells us about the thinking behind the Samsung Quick Drive campaign and why it won a PRmoment Award. [00:02:28] What Ben thinks about Pete's washing machine! [00:03:22] How Taylor Herring attempted to put the fun into washing machines! [00:03:36] Why the creative challenge was to cut the apathy and disinterest that consumers have around purchasing domestic appliances. [00:04:50] How do you make a washing machine entertaining?  [00:06:27] Understanding the hypnotic nature of the washing cycle! [00:06:56] Here's a video of the Samsung Quick Drive Washing Machine. [00:08:04] Why they produced a 66 minute film of a family cotton wash.  [00:08:16] Why Michael Nyman was chosen to write the score. [00:10:49] How the coverage spanned over two to three months for this campaign, starting with the TV spot. [00:13:22] How every national newspaper covered the story, if not twice then three times, over three months. [00:15:07] Why this was an earned first idea. [00:16:42] Did Samsung sell more washing machines as a result of this campaign? [00:18:20] Why the creative concept of using the slow TV and film medium to promote the fastest Samsung washing machine worked.  [00:20:51] Why brave clients are critical to a campaign like this. [00:24:40] The role of earned media within integrated communications. [00:26:28] How PR's skillset, the ability to tell stories in a way that is sharable, newsworthy and travel organically is now at a premium. 

This week, in the latest of our life stories podcasts, I’m interviewing Marshall Manson.Marshall has been London based for the last 11 years.   He worked at Edelman London as its digital director from 2008 to 2013, then he joined Ogilvy, from 2013 to 2018, latterly as the last UK CEO of Ogilvy Public Relations.   Marshall joined Brunswick as a partner in April last year.   Brunswick employs 1,100 people globally and 250 people in the UK. It has a global fee income of circa £300m.   [00:01:52] How different is the work Marshall is doing at Brunswick compared to the earlier parts of his career?    [00:02:37] Why Alan Parker, Brunswick's founder, says it doesn't do "people, politics or products."    [00:05:32] Marshall reflects on the differences between the PR market in China compared to the US and the UK, including the primacy of digital and the dominance of WeChat.    [00:08:09] Why for much of the web and digital comms at the moment it's the East leading the West.   [00:10:23] Why Marshall's first proper job was absolutely crucial in shaping the rest of his career.    [00:12:59] Marshall talks us through the individual nature of political campaigning in the US.    [00:15:27] Why Marshall moved to London 11 years ago in the back of a "drunken bar conversation."    [00:17:31] How a period of digital innovation from 2008 to 2013 got Edelman head of the market.    [00:21:24] Marshall talks about why Robert Phillips and his engagement model was ahead of its time.    [00:23:13] Why the Edelman’s purchase of Marcus Dyer’s digital agency Spook was a key part of Edelman UK’s digital journey at the time.    [00:25:50] How a PR team and a digital team work together.    [00:29:11] Why Marshall moved to Ogilvy and why he loved it.     [00:33:06] How to thrive in a big agency, you must be "not precious about anything, I'm just here to help".   [00:34:11] Based on his time at Ogilvy, Marshall talks about the journey that is integrated marketing.   [00:34:59] Why PR people shouldn't try to be good at everything.   [00:35:24] Why PR people need to stop being defensive.   [00:37:22] Why being the UK CEO of Ogilvy Public Relations was the most enjoyable time of Marshall's career – so far!    [00:38:34] How PR’s role in the communications mix is to create content that people choose to consume and share.   [00:42:36] How fewer clients now have separate budgets for PR, advertising, digital, etc – they want agencies to bring "us some good ideas and show us how you can make them and get them in the world. And then we'll figure out where the money is going to come from!"   [00:43:24] Why the progress of PR to take market share from advertising and digital agencies has been slower than many had expected.   [00:45:00] Why the short tenure of CMOs is leading to short-term focus marketing communications.   [00:46:31] Why did Marshall leave his dream job at Ogilvy?   [00:48:00] Why at Brunswick, Marshall enjoys advising at the business level, as opposed to the marketing or comms level.

This week, on the PRmoment podcast, we’re talking about mental health in PR.On the show we’ve got James Endersby, chief executive of Opinium, and Jane Fordham, who spent 20 years working in PR agencies before launching her eponymous consultancy in 2018 specialising in people, culture and diversity.Opinium has recently published a Mental Health and Wellbeing report in conjunction with the PRCA. One of the headlines coming out of the report says, and I quote: “that 62% of UK workers have struggled with their mental health in the last 12 months, and over four fifths (89%) of PR professionals surveyed say they have struggled with their mental wellbeing.”Here’s a flavour of what we discussed:[00:02:09] How 89% of participants in a survey of 500 PR people found that they have struggled with their mental well-being in the last 12 months.[00:02:25] Why workload is the top source of stress in PR.[00:02:30] How workload is also the top reason why people don't take time off.[00:05:26] How many of the things that attract people to public relations as a career – the fast pace, multi-tasking, the client-led environment, the always-on technology – are the same things which can impact people's mental health.[00:07:27] We compare the difference in UK Government mental health stats, Mind's mental health stats and the PRCA/Opinium mental health stats and ask why there is such a big difference.[00:09:22] A discussion on the definition of stress.[00:09:26] Why stress is not necessarily a negative thing, but too much stress or sustained stress is.[00:10:20] Does PR has a problem with stress or does society has a problem with stress?[00:12:32] James Endersy talks about how Opinium has partnered with Warwick University Medical School on this research to create a "clinically proven method" to establish a participant's wellbeing.[00:14:17] Whether people are aware that they're suffering from mental health issues.[00:15:03]James Endersby talk us through the most common causes of poor mental wellbeing at work.[00:16:08] To what extent does age and seniority impact on mental wellbeing?[00:17:03] Why we need to reposition the mental health conversation more positively.[00:21:08] Why the quality of the leadership and the culture of the organisation has a massive impact on the mental health of employees within the organisation.[00:22:58] How the brain is 32% more productive when it's positive or neutral than when it is negative.[00:24:25] How do PR employees tend to respond to stress at work?[00:25:30] Why we all have a stress bucket – it just a matter of how full our bucket is.[00:29:49] Jane's Fordham’s three wishes to improve PR's metal health.[00:30:56] How leaders can create a culture to help improve their employees’ mental wellbeing.[00:32:13] To what extent is mental wellbeing the employer’s responsibility and to what extent is it an individual's responsibility?[00:36:21] Why the wellbeing of your staff is a performance enabler.[00:37:39] Why the way many PR firms are running themselves is counterproductive.[00:39:02] Jane talks about the PRCA Mental Health Toolkit. 

This week, in the latest of our life stories series, I’m interviewing Asad Dhunna, founder of The Unmistakables, on the PRmoment Podcast. Asad started his career at IncrediBull (now Text 100), before moving to Weber Shandwick and via a stint in-house at FleishmanHillard Fishburn.Asad set up the Unmistakables in Aug 2018. Alongside running his own agency until recently he was also director of communications at Pride in London.Here is a summary of what Asad and I discussed:[00:01:02] As a gay man of Indian origin did Asad set up The Unmistakables because he didn't feel comfortable working in large agencies mostly populated by white, middle-class people who often went to private school? Or he did he do it because there was an opportunity for brands to better communicate with minority groups in the UK?[00:02:10] How during his time working in big agencies Asad felt he was working "living in different worlds" – when comparing his home life with his work life.[00:02:39] How in his early career Asad's mum asked him: "Why are you working in PR? The industry doesn't pay very well, it seems to work you really hard. You're knackered all the time … Why don't you get a job in a bank as a teller?"[00:04:19] Asad talks about the pressure of being a second-generation migrant in the UK.[00:06:16] How as an Asian, Asad found himself working on client work that he did not identify with.[00:07:45] Why Asad believes that power structures are an issue for minority groups, both at work and in society. [00:09:12] Asad talks abut the different milestones he has as a gay man and how that impacts peer relationships at work.[00:10:22] How Asad has changed his mindset from believing what made him different made it harder, to now believing what makes him different is what helps him.[00:11:08] Asad talks about losing his dad when he was quite young and not processing that grief until quite recently. [00:12:54] Asad and I compare the contrasting fortunes of UK and India over the last 50 years.[00:13:32] Asad talks about various micro-aggressive occasions, where the majority group, through a lack of empathy, make the minority group feel uncomfortable. [00:15:34] Why clients now want agencies to help them think about the big problems.[00:18:29] Why Asad believes we're living in a period of tick-box diversity.[00:21:37] Asad talks about some organisations that are getting their approach to diversity right.[00:24:22] Why the marcomms sector is stuck in a time warp of what real society looks like.[00:24:36] What can brands can do to make themselves more appealing as employers to minority groups?[00:27:40] Asad names the top three most impactful developments to increase the number of BME and minority groups working in public relations.[00:32:300] Asad talks about his time volunteering for Pride in London.[00:34:07] Asad talks about how different it is client side.[00:35:25] Asad talks about how The Unmistakables is deliberately an agency for misfits.

This week, in the latest of our life stories podcasts, I’m interviewing Jennifer Mowat, managing director at Babel.Jennifer went to university at Cambridge. Her first job in PR was at Mantra (now Speed) before moving to Chameleon and Brands2Life as a director. She joined Babel as managing director in February this year.Babel is an independent tech PR firm with a revenue of circa £2m. It employs 20 people in the UK and five in the US. It was founded by Ian Hood and Narelle Morrison in 2008. Narelle and Ian still own the business.Here’s a flavour of what Jenny and I discussed:[00:01:42] How Jenny originally wanted to be a teacher, but changed her mind whilst at university. [00:03:50] Why Jenny's time at Chameleon had a big impact on her career.[00:03:59] How Rob Skinner, Steve Loynes and Adrian Ma taught Jenny a lot during her time at Chameleon. [00:05:42] How Jenny has tried to learn from the senior leadership team in each of her jobs. [00:05:52] Jenny talks about what she learned during her time at Brands2Life – when the business expanded from 60 to 120 people.[00:07:45] Jenny gives an insider’s perspective on the transition from being a media-focused PR firm to it restructuring itself with a creative team, a video team, a social team, etc.[00:08:59] How an integrated team can offer more client value, compared to added-on freelance services. [00:10:05] Which integrated services do PR firms need the most?[00:11:29] Why Jenny left Brands2Life to move to a much smaller firm, Babel. [00:15:03] What is Babel’s sphere of work? [00:16:26] Are we in danger of overcomplicating the talent issue in public relations – don't employees of PR firms just want to do enjoyable work for clients they care about?[00:19:00] Why Jenny thinks the PR sector is still behind other sectors with flexible working.[00:19:15] Jenny talks about Anna Whitehouse's Flex Appeal approach to flexible working. [00:20:53] Why there’s still a difference between flexible working being laid out in a policy and actually happening in reality.[00:23:05] Jenny and I discuss the need for equal shared parenting responsibilities to reduce the gender pay gap. [00:25:42] The need to be transparent and honest with clients about your flexible working policies.[00:26:41] Why Jenny thinks that PR under spends on training currently. [00:27:39] How Babel identities its employees’ training needs.[00:29:24] How Babel's employees average around 50 hours of training per year. [00:31:19] Does Babels training help it attract the right people and hang on to the right people? [00:32:32] Why the upskilling trend within PR is good from both the employer’s and the employee's perspective.[00:33:55] Why succession planning is such a vital part of agency management.[00:36:54] How does a mid -ized tech PR firm like Babel differentiate itself?

This week we’re changing tack – we’re challenging our listeners out there to engage your brains!Technology means we’re on the cusp of data and insight playing a much bigger role in the planning, activation and measurement of communications.Alongside this development, a number of new (and established firms) have invested in the technology to more accurately and more swiftly understand the numbers behind communications.And on the show today is David Benigson who is the CEO at one of these firms Signal AI.Signal has just raised a further $25 million funding, taking its total funding to something like $53m. So we’re talking about significant sums of money. And Cision this week has announced that it has been bought for $2.74bn by private equity firm Platinum Equity.So this is a sector attracting some very significant investment.While we’re on the topic of data and insight PRmoment has just launched what I reckon is the best PR Analytics programme we’ve ever had – with speakers from Facebook, Diageo, The UK Government Communications Service and many more. Here’s a summary of what David and I discussed: [00:02:38] What does David see as the opportunity for data and insight within owned media?[00:03:07] David talks about the explosion of data, about how there has never been greater access to a more diverse data set for large organisations.[00:03:58] Why firms having to kind of manage this onslaught of information is both a huge challenge, and opportunity.[00:04:28] The extent to which AI technology can be applied to this explosion of data and used to derive meaningful insights that can drive better decisions for your organisation. [00:06:42] How PR people can use those insights derived from data to improve and enhance and make more sophisticated their strategies for then delivering PR and comms activity.[00:06:59] The difference between insight data and impact data in communications.[00:07:52] Is PR as a sector becoming too focused on overly simple single channel ROI measurements when there are usually numerous buyer touchpoints?[00:09:12] The importance of reputation measurement: how EY has identifid a direct correlation to trust and confidence in a business and its ongoing financial performance. [00:09:31] Why communications professionals need better data to enable them to derive better insights.[00:10:58] David discusses the four layers within the data pyramid: unstructured data, structured data,  data discovery/predictions and finally decision support data through machine learning. [00:14:04] David and I discuss the currently complex communications tool market: with social listening, earned media analysis, consumer sentiment tools all competing for budget and coming at the insight problem at differing angles.[00:17:40] What evidence is there that PR and communications is becoming a more data led practice? [00:20:21] Why is it that private equity firms have started to invest so heavily in this earned media and the analytics space?[00:23:14] Why David believes AI technologies will continue to augment professionals and enhance the work that they by pushing them up the value chain. [00:24:57] Which communication KPIs are most popular with Signal's clients?[00:26:39] Why your media measurement should consider the following: what this piece of content is saying about the particular entity that we care about? What is the sentiment? What are the semantics? What is the tone? What was the life of this particular piece of content after it was published? Was it shared by people? Did someone take a particular action off the back of it?  Did it did it crea

Here's a special PRmoment podcast from the ICCO Global Summit in Lisbon featuring interviews with ICCO CEO Francis Ingham, global CEO of Hotwire Barbara Bates, and new president of ICCO and group CEO Avian WE in India Nitin Mantri.On the podcast we cover global public relations trends, whether PR has an ethics problem and focus on Nitin's plans for his two-year stint as ICCO president.Here's a flavour of what we discussed:Francis Ingham[00:00:32] What is ICCO?[00:00:39] Do we really need a trade body for PR trade bodies? [00:01:28] Whether we are now entering a period of a two-speed global PR market?[00:02:03] How PR people globally identify the same challenges: Talent, proofing the value of what they do and ethics.[00:02:29] Whether PR has a greater mental health problem than the rest of society?[00:03:37] Why over-servicing and poor evaluation are linked to mental health issues in PR. [00:04:20] Whether PR has an ethics problem.[00:07:15] The global gender pay gap in public relations.Barbara Bates[00:08:12] Why PR must protect and defend its big ideas.[00:08:37] How many people in the PR agency world see "themselves as servants rather than a service".[00:09:35] Barbara Bates discusses the central difference in how creativity is sold from an ad agency objective to a PR agency – and whether PR giving its ideas away for free, creates a perception of low value in the minds of clients.[00:10:28] How PR agencies need to be better at presenting and selling big creative ideas Nitin Mantri[00:11:11] Why Nitin Mantri becoming the new president of ICCO shows the international footprint of the organisation.[00:11:35] Nitin Mantri discusses his agenda for his two-year term as president of ICCO.[00:14:19] Nitin talks about the challenges of running a modern PR firm where you have to merge different types of skills into one business – from writers, to videographers, to designers, etc.

This week, in the latest of our life stories podcast, I’m interviewing Alex Northcott, co-founder of Gorkana and founder of Roxhill Media.Alex has packed quite a bit into his career.He was originally in the British Army as an officer in the Gurkhas.His first job when he left the British Army was in PR at JP Morgan.He then worked for Morgan Stanley before cofounding Gorkana in 2004 alongside Michael Webster.Between them they grew Gorkana over a six-year period before selling to Durrants – who after various acquisitions became what is now known to us all as Cision.The deal was reported to be worth just shy of £28m.Alex then left Cision and five years ago set up Roxhill Media. Which is again a media database company – albeit with a technology twist or two.Roxhill has a turnover of circa £5m and employs about 25 people in the UK.[00:01:27] How a relatively short career in the British Army shaped Alex's career. [00:01:49] Why Alex decided to join the Gurkhas.[00:03:59] When Alex left the army and what made him choose a career in PR. [00:06:05] How Alex set up Gorkana alongside Michaell Webster in 2000 and grew it to a business with a turnover of £8m which they then sold to Durrants (now Cision) for £28m.[00:06:42] What was the genesis of the idea behind Gorkana? [00:08:31] Why Alex's wife made him sleep on the sofa for two weeks when he resigned from Morgan Stnaley to set up Gorkana![00:09:25] Alex talks us through the growth of Gorkana in its early years. [00:12:12] Why did Alex and Michael sell Gorkana when it was still a relatively young business? [00:14:30] How Alex told potential buyers what he wanted for the business before opening himself up to a due diligence process.[00:17:57] What are the important KPIs you need to get right if your want to sell your business?[00:19:03] How the multiple of profit, as a way of valuing the business, was completely irrelevant for Gorkana – because it had three competing offers which every week grew a little bit more and a little bit more. [00:20:03] Why Alex left Durrants (now Cision) only months after the purchase of Gorkana.[00:22:50] Why having made approximately £14m selling Gorkana, Alex decided to do it all again and found Roxhill Media.[00:26:06] Why Alex wants to sell Roxhill Media for more than he sold Gorkana. [00:28:40] How the media relations market is changing.[00:33:48] Why Alex now stops eating at seven o'clock at night and then drinks rose with his children!

This week, in the latest of our life stories podcast, I’m interviewing Fenella Grey, chair at Porter Novelli London, on the PRmoment podcastFenella was a director at Weber Shandwick between 2007 and 2013, then she spent almost six years at Freuds before joining Porter Novelli in 2014.She was MD of the London office, before becoming London chair in July last year.Porter Novelli in London has circa 75 full-time and part-time people in its London office.Here’s a summary of what Fenella and I discuss:[00:01:01] Whether Freuds is still that the agency that consumer shops in London try to emulate. [00:03:29] How Fenella learnt at the "front end of making big decisions and this and selling big ideas to the C-suite of organisations" at Freuds. [00:05:02 ] Why did Fenella leave Freuds and move to Porter Novelli?[00:06:19] How, when Fenella joined Porter Novelli London, it required a "big shot of adrenaline". [00:07:04] Fenella describes Porter Novelli as a boutique firm with a global network. [00:09:15] Why Fenella believes the "whatever size business, whatever stage you are within the business – it's a luxury to hire talent ahead of revenue."[00:10:03] How Fenella's mentor, Karen Van Bergan, told her running an agency is "as simple as having the right team around you – if the right team around you are doing their jobs then you know the only way is up.”[00:12:20] Fenella talks about why she believes many global firms have become too generalist and why she believes Porter Novelli can become "the defining global purpose communications consultancy".[00:16:18] Why the biggest change Fenella made at Porter Novelli was to make the team believe that "that we can win."[00:16:48] How Fenella reset the culture of Porter Novelli London. [00:18:17] How has Porter Novelli London business performed over the last few years?[00:18:46] Why Fenella has moved up to become chair of Porter Novelli London whilst Joe Patterson and Nicole Yost have become joint MDs.[00:19:34] How the nature of client work that Porter Novelli is involved in has changed.[00:20:31] In markets such as France, Italy and the Netherlands Peter Novelli has merged with other Omnicom agencies Ketchum and Fleishman Hillard to form Omnicom PR – but in markets like the UK it has retained its independence. What have the cultural difficulties been in the variants of this structure?[00:22:35] As a woman at the top of a PR firm – does Fenella think she's had to work harder than her male peers to get there?[00:24:07] Fenella describes what the Omni Women scheme is all about.[00:25:33] Are these turbulent times an opportunity or a threat to the PR sector?[00:27:31] Why PR firms are better placed to help businesses with finding and delivering their purpose than management consultancies.[00:27:57] Why we need to be able to prove a return on purpose for brands.[00:29:32] Why Fenella believes there is still an opportunity in PR to marry better data with great creative to drive even better impact for business.[00:30:10] Does every business need a purpose? [00:30:13] Fenella and I debate whether improving a company's purpose will always lead to more sales. [00:36:09] Why Fenella believes there is there's no such thing as a work-life balance.[00:41:06] Fenella and I ask why, despite the increase in the breadth of work being done by PR firms, the PR sector is not making more significant inroads into the budgets of ad agencies.

This week, in the latest PRmoment Podcast, we’ve got a change of format from normal.In anticipation of the PRmoment Awards 2020 I thought it would be interesting to hear from some of the winners from the PRmoment Awards 2019.So today I’m talking to Niall Couper who is head of media, PR and supporter communications for Amnesty International UK.The Amnesty International UK comms team won the in-house team of the year award at the PRmoment Awards this year.Here’s a flavour of what Niall and I discuss:[00:01:27] How Amnesty's comms function is split between reactive and proactive teams.[00:02:19] Niall talks us through Amnesty’s journalism engagement programme.[00:02:34] How a lack of budget is Amnesty's biggest challenge. [00:03:56] How the in-house team at Amnesty retains its creative edge.[00:08:25] Why Amnesty's work in London "is massively influential for the whole movement."[00:08:59] The tension behind Amnesty's PR stunts – they have to be fun to get people talking, but they're very serious at the same time. [00:12:14] How Amnesty works? It has a list of about 15 different projects that it works on at any one time. [00:14:22] Amnesty’s duty of care to the people it talks about in campaigns [00:16:06] What are the biggest challenges for in-house charity comms teams at the moment? [00:18:00] Is there a certain type of person who thrives working for Amnesty>[00:19:50] Why Niall reckons you have to be absolutely at the top of your game to be able to work for Amnesty.[00:20:40] Why Amnesty's daily media breifing focuses on "what's shit in the world". [00:21:30] Why Niall is very wary of emotional fatigue amongst his team.[00:23:41] Which skills does Niall prioritise within his team?[00:25:531] Why being part of the new agenda is crucial to keeping Amnesty visible.[00:27:00] How closely aligned the comms team is to contributing to Amnesty's organisation's objectives – either that be people changing behaviour or by trying to raise donations. [00:30:17] How Niall has overseen a period of cultural change within the comms team at Amnesty. [00:30:26] Niall talks about the change in Amnesty's PR team – from moving from a press office to a media and PR team.[00:34:02] Why Niall would love agencies to approach Amnesty for pro bono work. [00:35:51] What's holding Amnesty back from a PR perspective? [00:38:07] Has the rise of cause related marketing made it easier or more difficult for Amnesty to get media cut through?[00:39:15] Why brands entering cause related marketing must do it with legitimacy.

This week, in the latest of our life stories podcasts, I’m interviewing Louie St Claire, CEO of Harvard and board director at Chime Specialist GroupHarvard is part of the Chime Group, has a turnover of £7.5 million and grew by 18% last year.It has 80 employees.Chime originally bought Harvard in 2000 when it employed 200 people.What I love about Louie and Harvard’s story is that when Louie joined the company in 2011 it was down to a revenue £1.2m and had 11 employees left.So it’s been a proper journey – at the start it was all about survival, then a turnaround, then growth and recently Louie as the lead for a number of acquisitions for the firm.Harvard clients include Facebook Workplaces, Cisco, Vodafone, Lenovo and Square.Here’s some of the highlights of what Louie and I discussed:[00:01:23] When Louie joined Harvard  in 2011 it was down to 11 employees at one point, from a high of 200 employees 10 years earlier.[00:01:23] Why, when Louie joined Harvard, it was simply about business survival.[00:01:45] Why Louie reckons he was "the last chance saloon" for Harvard when he joined.[00:04:22] Why Louie, Ellie Thompson and Pete Marcus bought into the vision of Harvard’s when they joined in 2011.[00:06:14] Louie talks us through the stages of Harvard since he joined, from survival, to turnaround, to growth and finally acquisitions.[00:13:37] What it takes, specifically, for an agency to build momentum.[00:14:28] Why Harvard's Cisco win in 2013 was such an important win.[00:20:27] Louie talks us through Harvard's acquisition strategy. [00:20:41] Why Harvard bought US agency Method for £10. [00:27:33] How has Harvard outperformed the market when it comes to winning new business?[00:32:56] How your approach to managing a PR business needs to change as the business increases in size.[00:35:28] Why growth is the only way agencies can give people opportunities.[00:38:33] 20 years of change fuelled by the reshaping of the world order post-World War 2. [00:41:32] Why Louie believes PR is getting its short-term versus long-term measurement priorities wrong.

This week, in the latest of our life stories podcast, I’m interviewing Dan Neale, co-founder and MD at Alfred.Alfred is an independent PR shop in London focusing on the consumer, entertainment, technology and gaming markets.It has a fee income of circa 1.3m and about 15 employees. Alfred was founded in 2013 by Dan Neale and Gemma Pears. Gemma moved to the US for a short while and during that time Dan bought her out, meaning he now owns 100% of the business.Previously to Alfred, Dan headed up Unlimited Group’s then digital and social offer – Things with Wings.He was only 30 when he launched Alfred – so he was a relatively young PR entrepreneur.Here’s a flavour of what Dan and I discussed:[00:01:21] Whether Dan, as a 30 year old, reckoned it was a risk to leave a salaried job and launch Alfred.[00:04:26] How Dan was influenced by his father being an entrepreneur.[00:06:40] How Dan always had the ambition to build and create something, he just wasn't sure what it was going to be. [00:07:48] Why Dan believes that too much PR activity is obsessed with short-term objectives, rather than ideas that will help change a business.[00:08:52] Why PR needs to be more confident in its impact – reputation has a huge impact on brands. [00:09:27] How and why Dan had to buy Gemma Pears, co-founder of Alfred, out of the business. [00:12:06] Whether it feels different now that Dan owns all of Alfred.[00:13:40] Why Dan wants Alfred to approach work like a creative agency rather than a traditional PR agency[00:15:55] Why doing a year’s IT and computer programming course at uni (which he then dropped out of) has helped Dan in the long term.[00:17:05] Why Dan decided early on in the life of Alfred to employ two experienced non-executive directors.[00:20:01] Why agencies must create an environment where people are willing to challenge and be challenged. [00:22:32] Whether Dan is pleased that after six years he's built a business with a fee income of £1.3m – or is he disappointed?[00:22:38] Dan argues that there have been fewer independent UK start up PR firms in recent years. [00:25:48] Dan talks us through what, in hindsight, he would do differently since launching Alfred. [00:27:52] Whether agencies should to try and build their own IP or tool or buy an off-the-shelf product? [00:31:21] Whether there is a similar mindset linking the careers of music and public relations.[00:33:01] Why Dan believes PR has an irrational focus on coverage versus impact. [00:34:07] Why Dan believes linking reputation to impact is the answer to PR’s measurement dilema.

This week on the PRmoment Podcast, in the latest of our life stories series, I’m pleased to welcome MD of Nelson Bostock Nick Clark.   Nelson Bostock is one of those firms that everyone’s heard of, but it probably punches below its weight in terms of it’s profile in the PR industry.   For those of you that don’t know, Nelson Bostock was founded in 1987 by Martin Bostock and Roger Nelson. The founders of the business have left the firm and it’s now part of Unlimited Group which is owned by the private equity firm DBay.   Unlimited Group has a turnover of over £70m and consists of digital agency TMW, research firm Walnut as well as Health Unlimited (previously Red Door), consumer agency Fever and Nelson Bostock.   Nelson Bostock has a turnover of approximately £5.3m and has 65 employees.   Here is a flavour of what we discussed:   [00:02:01] How Nick has worked for Nelson Bostock for (almost) 21 years.    [00:02:16] Whether it's a good thing to be in one job for that long.    [00:04:24] Nick identifies the different phases of his career.    [00:04:41] How the randomness of Nick’s brother sharing a flat with the ex-CEO of Nelson Bostock Group Lee Nugent lead to Nick working in PR.   [00:06:13] How as the MD Nick divides his time between client work, the day-to-day management of the business and long-term strategy.    [00:08:33] How Nick made the jump from being a good PR person, to a senior director in the business.   [00:10:30] Nick describes how CEOs have a battle to understand how best to spend their time.    [00:11:08] Why we all need to give ourselves more time to think.    [00:12:36] Why do internal candidates tend to get the biggest jobs at PR firms?    [00:14:39] How did Nelson Bostock grow at 25% last year?    [00:17:14] How Nelson Bostock uses media relations as a bridge into more integrated work.    [00:18:35] Why having strong media relations at the heart of an agency gives your a competitive advantage across other types of marketing agencies.   [00:24:59] Nick talks us through Nelson Bostock’s acquisition strategy.    [00:25:57] Why mid-sized firms are more likely to buy an integrated offer.    [00:29:20] Why the nuanced and complicated sales cycle of B2B markets means specialised agencies are still in demand.    [00:30:51] How B2B buyers are buying marketing services.   [00:32:44] How Leigh Nugent, Roger Nelson and Martin Bostock were unofficial mentors in Nick's career.   [00:34:58]  Nelson Bostock is owned by DBay: how has Nick found it different working for a private equity firm?   [00:37:17] What Nick has learnt about buying companies and the complexities of integrating them.   [00:39:36] Nick talks us through the challenges and benefits of flexible working, particularly as an MD.

This week, in the latest of our life stories podcasts, I’m interviewing Mark Lowe, co-founder of Third City. Third City is a consumer PR firm in London with a fee income of over £2 million and a turnover approaching £3 million and 28 employees.Mark co-founded Third City in 2008 with Graz Belli. Previously Mark had worked at Band & Brown for six years.Here is a summary of what Mark and I discussed.[00:01:09] How Mark originally wanted to be an actor. [00:03:01] Mark talks us through his early career as a singer in a band. [00:05:09] Why if you have a dream in life it's important to at least give it a go! Even if you ultimately end up doing something else.[00:06:35] Mark and I discuss the trend of people going plural and having two or more jobs.[00:07:42] Whether PR firms offer sufficient flexibility in working practices. [00:08:32] Why Mark reckons his CV in his 20s was "a bit of a mess". [00:12:33] Why Mark's career accelerated when he joined Band & Brown and met Graz Belli. [00:13:05] Why you don't have to have a conventional career path, the most important thing is that you really believe in, and want to do, what you're doing. [00:13:31] Why "trying and failing" is an important part of life/your career.[00:15:19] Mark talks us through the challenges and advantages he had of starting his PR career pretty late. [00:15:54] How meeting Jill Brown and Graz Belli was a critical change in Mark's career.[00:16:43] Why Mark believes the PR sector has some cultural preconceptions about age which hold the industry back.[00:17:53] Why Mark would like to redefine PR as "brand communications".[00:18:23] Why PR firms are now working in the space that was previously occupied by branding agencies.[00:20:19] Why the barriers between consumer and corporate PR are being broken down.[00:20:36] Why the way VCs are buying public relations is changing the agency market.[00:22:20] Why brands can no longer manage their reputation and brand out of two separate departments.[00:22:38] How Mark went from a senior account director at Band & Brown at 29 to a director at 32.[00:22:59] What did Mark do in those three years to accelerate his career?[00:26:26] Why Mark decided to leave Band & Brown to set up Third City alongside Graz Belli and Gill Brown.[00:27:22] What were the reasons behind Band & Brown losing its momentum quite quickly? [00:29:53] Mark talks about how Third City was founded.[00:30:44] Why Mark believes its important for a PR firm to be able to blend the best of consumer agencies and corporate agencies. [00:33:02] Why Third City is looking for opportunities for regional expansion in the UK and models for international expansion. [00:34:29] Mark talks us through Third City's structure, including its Third Citizen network. [00:37:41] Why Mark believes public affairs professionals are often more interested in the political process than the political context. And they are very rarely interested in brands. [00:38:23] How people who work in brand communications are often not that interested in politics.[00:40:08] Mark asks whether the rush for purpose is explained by the idea that we are now entering a world in which businesses are neither paying taxes nor creating jobs, so they are having to come up with other reasons and justifications for their existence. [00:41:05] Why is it that VC firms tend to prioritise public relations as a method of marketing?[00:45:11] How the uncertainty of Brexit is impacting the UK PR busines

This week on the PRmoment Podcast, in the latest of our life stories series, I’m pleased to welcome co-owner and managing director of Chameleon Tom ButtleChameleon is an independent tech PR firm in London with a fee income of £2.1m and 20 people.The business was originally owned by Helen Holland before Tom Butttle and Tom Berry (what are the chances!) completed an MBO of the business in April 2017.Here’s a summary of what Tom and I discussed:[00:01:08] How Tom was a late starter in PR, having previously worked in HR, but has since had a pretty accelerated career path. [3.8s] [00:03:35] Tom talks about the advantages of moving into PR from a different sector. [0.9s] [00:05:04] Why Tom took a pay cut to move into PR. [0.4s] [00:07:15] Tom tells us how, and I quote, " he fell in love with content and storytelling".[00:09:21] How Tom has benefited from having a mentor in his career.[00:12:56] Tom worked for Flieshman Hillard before moving to Chameleon – he talks us through why this was an important stage of his career. Tom also compares the differences of working in a large agency with a smaller one. [00:16:58] How Tom, when he joined Chameleon, went about updating the content services of the agency.[00:19:21] How Tom and Tom Berry restructured, repackaged and modernised the business.[00:20:10] How Chameleon went about reducing the number of clients their teams worked on.[00:20:21] Why Chameleon resigned a number of accounts whilst they were modernising the business. [00:20:43] How Chameleon managed to win some big-name clients that supported their new strategy. [00:21:28] Why, having initially been bought into the business to prepare it for a trade sale, Tom and his colleague Tom Berry decided that they wanted to take the business on themselves.[00:27:38] When you need a broker, when you need an accountant and when you need a lawyer in the process of buying or selling a business.[00:32:14] Tom talks about achieving a balance between personal investments, loans and borrowing on the future income of a business when raising the finance to purchase a business.[00:34:01] Why it works that Tom and his business partner Tom Berry are "not best mates but just good friends." [00:36:41] Why Tom believes that PR people say "yes" to much.[00:37:45] Why overservicing stops PR firms from being able to nurture your team because you can't promote, reward and train people if you're not making any money. [00:38:57] How the bridge from a client-service mindset as a junior member of staff to the consultative/advisory approach of a director can be difficult in public relations firms.

This week on the PRmoment podcast, I’m pleased to welcome Natasha Hill, managing director at Bottle.Bottle has a turnover of £2m and is an independent multi-specialist PR firm in Oxford.The business was previously owned by Will and Claire Cairns. Will Cairns still has a stake in the business but Natasha and creative director Colin Cather now run the business day to day.Bottle has 25 staff and about 60% of its work is in consumer markets and 40% in B2B.Here is a flavour of what Natasha and I discussed:[00:01:21] Why Bottle founder Will Cairns can now be found in the Cotswolds, on a bike with a bunch of American tourists![00:02:02] How Bottle founder Will Cairns has exited the day-to-day running of the business and handed it over the Natasha and creative director Colin Cather. [00:04:49] Natasha talks us through the story of Bottle as a business – how it grew to about £2m in 2014 and then lost some momentum (fee income subsequently fell to circa £1.4m.) The business has now grown back to a fee income of £2m. [00:05:14] How Natasha has retained a high number of retainer clients at Bottle, despite the sector trend for an increased number of project-based agency/client relationships. [00:07:10] Why PR clients increasingly value strategic advice over campaign implementation. [00:10:51] Natasha explains the recruitment challenges for PR firms near, but outside of London, in places like Oxford.[00:13:01] How Natasha has restructured Bottle in-line with her brand marketing background.[00:14:36] Why the fact that neither of the current leadership team of Bottle have come from a pure PR background has helped its client proposition.[00:15:32] How Bottle has re-engineered the way the team works and the structure of the working day to reflect the challenges of modern public relations. [00:17:09] Should all PR teams, both in-house and agency split into reactive teams and proactive teams?[00:19:33] How Natasha and the rest of the management team at Bottle have turned around a business that was in decline and created growth. [00:23:08] Why Natasha made the move from a strategic marketing director role at the UK’s biggest charity Cancer Research UK to a small PR firm.[00:25:00] How Natasha's belief that Cancer Research UK needed to become more of a human charity, rather than purely a research-focused charity – led to the organisation’s rebrand.[00:28:40] How post the rebrand in 2012 Cancer Research UK's income was up by 6%.[00:29:44] As a marketer how does Natasha see PR’s contribution to the marketing funnel – which bits of the funnel are realistic for PR firms to grab and which bits are not?[00:32:29] Why agencies are increasingly having to draw the line on the type of work that they can do – otherwise you end up just trying to cover too much with insufficient expertise.[00:33:47] What does PR actually do for a huge charity like Cancer Research UK?[00:37:52] How does Natasha see the relative advantages of having an in-house team compared to outsourcing to an agency?[00:39:38] Natasha talks us through the process of digital transformation she implemented during her time at Cancer Research UK.

Richard Fogg, CEO at CCgroup on the PRmoment podcastThis week on the PRmoment podcast I’m pleased to welcome Richard Fogg, CEO of CCgroup.CCgroup has a fee income of £3.5m and is an independent, technology-focused PR firm in London.The business was previously known as Companycare and rebranded as CCgroup in 2006Rich and his business partner Paul Nolan completed a management buy out of the business in 2018 and we talk in detail about that process.[00:03:16] Why Rich believes his Bournemouth PR degree gave him a massively unfair advantage in his career. [00:04:16] Why it annoys Rich that PR courses get such a panning in the industry. [00:04:20] How it frustrates Rich that the sizeable body of PR theory out there is rarely used.[00:04:27] How Rich believes there is a correlation between our industry's inability to use its academic models and our difficulties in getting onto boards.[00:05:24] Why Rich believes that PR grads have a much broader appreciation of what PR is and how it’s evolving.[00:06:12] Whether you make a better PR person if you have a PR degree as opposed to someone who has a geography degree or a degree in politics. [00:09:34] Why CCgroup has made PRCA CPD a necessary  condition so a group for pay rises, promotions and bonuses.[00:09:57]  Why the pace of change in the PR sector means that unless you invest in your career by listening to podcasts, going to events and learning you will become less and less valuable to your employers.[00:13:24] How as the CEO of CCgroup Rich is about to go on sabbatical for three months. [00:17:29] How it is that Rich has only ever had one job and has been at CCgroup for 20 years? [00:18:18 ] How the working relationship between Rich and Paul Nolan has been critical to the growth of CCgroup[00:19:38] Why Rich's dad's company going bust whilst he was at Uni meant he was at first terrified of running his own firm.[00:19:53] Why Rich has had Neil Backwith as a mentor for 15 years.[00:22:52] CCgroup has launched a couple of new divisions in recent years, in hindsight Rich talks us through which ones have worked and which ones have not. [00:24:12] Why CCgroup launched and then ‘unlaunched’ its B2B audience insight business Aperture. [00:27:54] Why CCgroup sold its consumer tech business Escapade as part of an MBO. [00:29:57] Why 80% of CCgroups clients are headquartered in the US. [00:30:52] How the US business will be 10% of CCgroup’s revenue in 2020 having only started in 2017.[00:35:49] Rich identifies consistency of work as the key to business development. [00:37:00] How a merger that didn't happen started the process of Rich and Paul Nolan completing an MBO of the business. [00:39:15] Why Rich and Paul Nolan decided against using bank loans or private equity money to buy the business.[00:41:03] How the CCgroup MBO worked for both the buy side and the sell side.  [00:41:15] Why Rich believes there aren't more management buyouts in the industry. [00:47:05] Why Rich believes PR as a sector lacks confidence.[00:51:15] Why the PR sector needs to close its ears to the people that slam the industry for column inches and in conference platforms.

This week on the PRmoment Podcast, in the latest of our life stories interviews, I’m pleased to welcome Torod Neptune, who is worldwide group vice president and chief communications officer at Lenovo Group.His CV is a beautiful thing – he’s previously spent time at Weber, WE, The US House of Representatives and Verizon before joining Lenovo in 2017.Torod is also a passionate supporter of increasing the number of BAME people working in PR.Here is a taster of what Torod and I discuss:[00:01:36] Torod talks about his time working as director of strategic and crisis communications at US House of Representatives during 9/11. [00:03:22] How his time working in politics gave him an acute understanding of the detail required for stakeholder relationship management. [00:03:42] How Torod learnt very quickly that there is no such thing as an apolitical role in an organisation such as the Congress.[00:05:51] Why Torod has always been interested in the stories that were attached to issues involved in politics.[00:06:07] How, aged 8 or 9, Torod remembers going out with his politician mother and campaigning door to door.[00:08:07] Torod talks us through the difference in priority and skill that you need between an enterprise (product) based role and a group level global communications role.[00:09:42] How at an enterprise comms level you need to sell products or protect or build a sub brand that helps drive revenue at the operations level.[00:09:55] How at a group level the emphasis is on the need and the power of a master brand and a master narrative.[00:11:08] Why Torod believes product specification is no longer the sole incentive that motivates consumers to purchase – consumers today are more interested in what an organisation is about in terms of its values, principles, ethics and transparency.[00:12:48] Torod explains the reasons why he buys agency advice and time.[00:13:26] What is the most effective agency advice that Torod gets?[00:15:01] Torod talks us through Lenovo's current comms strategy and the challenge to differentiate the business by establishing it as a contributor to society with the aim of wanting "consumers to root for us and want us to win." [00:15:46] Why Lenovo is focused on creating that emotive attachment to who we are and why we make great products as opposed to the products themselves. [00:19:34] How Torod and Lenovo have changed the way they buy agency PR advice to force agencies to increase the diversity of their businesses.[00:20:00] How Lenovo mandated any agency, holding company or independent agency, which wanted to be a part of its RFI and RFP process, to disclose their diversity stats data. Also how Lenovo's account team would also have to reflect Lenovo's customer base and its employee base. [00:20:57] Why Lenovo in Torod’s words decided to "put our foot down about wanting to see real meaningful action as opposed to a lot of what's unfortunately still rhetoric in this area." [00:25:16] Why, in the US, if PR firms are not diverse. increasingly they are going to be unable to win contracts with the bigger firms.[00:25:30] Why agency diversity will become a core procurement-driven issue.[00:26:25] Why increasing diversity in your team is not only the right thing to do, it also makes good business sense. [00:27:49 ] Why Torod believes the promoting of PR as a varied and interesting career in the universities is critical.[00:28:18] Torod talks about his personal career story and the important role that mentors have played in that.[00:31:55] The problem of retaining BAME people within public relations. [00:34:14] How the use of data&

This week on the PRmoment podcast, I’m pleased to welcome Jon Lonsdale, CEO and joint founder of Octopus. Octopus has a fee income of £5m and is an independent technology-focused PR firm in London. The business has been going for nearly 18 years and was founded by three mates who worked together at Bite. Those friendships are still intact and are still at the heart of the business. Octopus has also, in Jon’s words “bet the farm” on its brands to sales positioning of the agency and we'll be talking about that, amongst other things, in this podcast. [00:01:14] Why Jon reckons "running a business with your mates is about as good as it gets."  [00:02:44] How Jon, Billy Hamilton-Stent and Pete Hendrick have retained such a good working environment between themselves over such a prolonged period of time. [00:03:04] Why Jon and the partners of the business have treated themselves as employees to avoid Octopus having a "cult of the owner." [00:06:03 ] How Octopus has codified and developed a methodology for its brands to sales approach. [00:06:13] Why Octopus has specified hard sales metrics in many client contracts. [00:07:03] Jon discusses how PR firms are able to have radically different commercial conversations with clients when you're willing to commit to hard sales metrics. [00:07:23] Jon talks us through Octopus's client scorecards approach to KPIs.  [00:08:27] The interconnectivity of reputation and sales.   [00:13:23] Jon describes the structural changes they made to the business as a result of its brands to sales approach "ripping the business up." [00:13:35] How it took four years to restructure the business to the new approach. [00:14:01] Why Octopus has had to reskill the whole agency around digital techniques and digital marketing.[00:14:49] Why Octopus's net client fees have gone up since taking a brands to sales approach.[00:16:02] Why Jon believes PR teams moving to an impact on sales approach, increases budgets and means that as an agency you become a sales tool, not an overhead. [00:19:30] Jon discusses Octopus's internal training programme called the Brand to Sales Academy. [00:24:43] Why modern agencies need to have the capacity to flex and move skills and people around.  [00:25:07] Jon talks us through the reasons Octopus had a tough year in 2017. [00:28:20] Why a failed pitch lead to Jon and his business partners abandoning a multi-brand approach for the agency.  [00:31:08] Jon describes why he loves running a business in the technology sector. [00:33:07] Jon and I explore the theory that it's easier for B2B PR firms to win larger parts of an integrated brief than their consumer peers. [00:35:10] Why Jon believes that the creativity in B2B campaigns is just as good as the creativity in B2C, it's just not as loud. [00:40:14] Jon identifies the type of PR buyer who wants to purchase all their marketing services from one place.

Here’s a special PRmoment podcast from AMEC’s Global Summit in Prague: featuring PRmoment founder Ben Smith complete with an almost lost voice, Diageo’s Jim Alexander, AMEC chairman and CARMA CEO, Europe and the Americas Richard Bagnall and Mischief’s head of insight and strategy Gemma Moroney.We talk through the three perspectives of PR’s measurement opportunity – the client's perspective, the measurement provider’s perspective and finally, the PR firm’s side of the story.First up I talked to Diageo’s Jim Alexander.Jim and I talk for about the first 18 minutes of the podcast and here is a flavour of what we discussed:[00:00:58] Jim talks to us about where Diageo started its measurement journey and where it has got to now. [00:01:17] How, two years ago Diageo's measurement processes was in "a very disparate place". [00:02:08] Why each brand and each different specialism within Diageo’s marketing and comms had a different approach to measurement and analysis.[00:02:21] Why one of the benefits of a large organisation with lots of different brands is that you can better hold them up next to each other to compare, learn and improve. [00:02:56] How Diageo has used AMEC's Measurement Framework across its business. [00:03:24] How the framework is used by everyone from Diageo's director of marketing Europe all the way through to account execs working in Diageo's PR agencies. [00:03:31] How it can be challenging to get between 200-300 people to use Diageo’s Measurement Framework document. [00:04:50] Whether Jim volunteered or got volunteered into the role of modernising and standardising Diageo measuring process.[00:05:28] How did Jim tell people internally that some of the KPIs they had spent years reporting were actually worthless. [00:05:37] Which KPIs did Diageo get rid of and which KPIs did it introduce. [00:05:45] Why Diageo has only set output and outcome KPIs not impact ones.[00:06:54] Why "opportunities to see" is Jim's "bad guy metric". [00:08:37] How Diageo has built its own multi-channel metric methodology called "visibility" and Jim talks us through what this metric means. [00:11:41] How did Jim approach the conversation with the senior internal stakeholders who for a number of years thought the comms effort had "all been going swimmingly" when in reality the true metric was minuscule in comparison?[00:12:37] Why PR’s use of bizarre, unjustifiably large numbers in the past has been at the centre of its historic credibility problem – senior decision makers used to just "look straight through”  these ridiculously big numbers.[00:13:14] Jim explains why understands AMEC's campaign on the importance of getting good outcome and impact data, but adds that the "problem is getting that level of data is very difficult and often expensive".[00:14:18] Why, for the evaluation debate to continue to move forwards, the key stakeholders are the senior in-house people – there's only so much agencies can do. [00:14:56] From it a tool’s perspective how does Diegeo attempt to unify its measurement across the numerous different channels that PR operates across?Next I talked to AMEC chairman and CARMA CEO, Europe and the Americas Richard Bagnal from about 18.20 mins to 34.35 mins.Here are some of the highlights from that discussion:[00:18:05] Where has PR as a sector got to in its measurement journey?[00:19:10] Why AMECs Measurement Framework Process and the Measurement Maturity Mapper (M3) mean there are no more excuses for poor PR and comms measurement. [00:21:00] How AMEC's Integrated Framework will help you measure r

This week on the PRmoment Podcast, in the latest of our life stories series, I interviewed chairman of The PR Office Shimon Cohen.The PR Office was founded in 2004, has a fee income of about £2.5m and about 15 employees.The business has clients across a broad range of sectors and Shimon has some interesting views on how he sees the scope of public relations.Here is a summary of what Shimon and I discussed:[00:01:05] How Shimon used to be executive director to the Chief Rabbi but ended up in PR.[00:04:32] Shimon talks us through his “job interview” with Sir Tim Bell. [00:06:49] Shimon describes what it was like working at Bell Pottinger in its heyday (Shimon left 14 years before the scandal that bought it down.) [00:07:16] Why good public relations essentially comes down to three things: Where are you now, where do you want to be and how do you get there. [00:09:46] How, Bell Pott Gate aside, Shimon believes that Sir Tim Bell's clarity of thought and wisdom was the most important factor in the development of public relations as a serious boardroom discipline. [00:12:14] Why Shimon believes that in many large companies you get really really good at doing something and you get promoted into a job that you don't know anything about! [00:12:45] Why Shimon didn't like being CEO of Bell Pottinger and resigned. [00:14:23] Why Shimon "adores" PR. [00:15:06] Why Shimon believes the PR sector hasn't really changed at all in the last 10 years. [00:17:34] Why PR people need to sell something that somebody wants to buy![00:18:23] How the communications triangle between government and organisations and the public has been inverted.[00:21:14] Why at The PR Office Shimon "outsources as much as possible". [00:23:19] Why everyone who works for The PR Office is a fee earner.[00:25:16] Why all of the PR Office's employees work from home on Fridays.[00:27:06] Why Shimon believes we may see professional managers with no PR experience being appointed as the CEOs of PR firms - just like what happens in law firms. [00:31:05] How the PR Office have maintained credentials across a broad range of work and not specialised in specific sectors. [00:31:025] Why Shimon believes PR people should not specialise in a specific vertical sector but retain a broader knowledge of business.

This week on the PRmoment Podcast, in the latest of our life stories series, I’m interviewing Sharon Bange, managing partner at Kindred.Kindred has a fee income of circa £5m, a turnover of approx £9m and employs circa 50 people.It is an interesting story because the business almost went bust in 2010 (for reasons discussed in the podcast) but it has since recovered.Sharon has been with the business since 2003 and is now a managing partner.[00:00:48] How Sharon ended up in PR although her first choice of career was to become a social worker.[00:02:53] How Kindred has come back from the brink of administration.   [00:03:21 ] Why, when David Cameron's Conservative Government came to power in 2010, it had immediate negative implications for Kindred because 90% of its client base was public sector government work.[00:03:41] Hear how the morning after the 2010 election, the phones at Kindred kept ringing –  and it was government departments ending their contracts.[00:04:43] How by the summer of 2010 (the election was in May) Kindred as a business was "completely decimated" and "all of the clients that the business was built around couldn't spend with us anymore."[00:05:57] How Nick Mustoe and the Kindred management team took over the business in what was, in effect, a management buyout.[00:07:35] Why associate directors and above got equity in the new Kindred.[00:07:51] Why having a shared-ownership structure played an important part in rebuilding the business[00:08:54] Where do you start – when 90% of a businesses work disappears overnight?[00:10:23] How did the team at Kindred manage to win enough work quickly enough to keep the business going?[00:11:57] Ten years ago, Kindred bolted its public relations business together with an advertising and creative agency – Sharon looks back at the lessons learnt in hindsight.[00:13:23] How people at Kindred often work across disciplines, functions and sectors.[00:15:18] Why Sharon has spent her whole 15-year career at Kindred.[00:15:45] Why, for Sharon, the culture at Kindred means it is a special place for her.[00:16:42] How Sharon regards herself as risk averse but likes a challenge![00:17:29] Sharon talks us through her personal values and why they are important to her. Hint: she doesn't like bullshitters![00:20:15] How it has worked for the business having two managing partners – Sinead Gray and Sharon.[00:20:48] Why lots of people at Kindred do not work full time[00:24:25] Why earned media and paid media do different things in influencer marketing.

This week on the PRmoment podcast, in anticipation of our Influence of Influence conference on 15 May, I interviewed Rax Lakhani, freelance PR and social media consultant, about the current state of influencer marketing.Here’s a summary of what Rax and I discussed:[00:01:30] Why Rax turned his back on full-time PR agency employment and became a freelancer.[00:04:56 ] Why Rax believes PR agencies have become incredibly good at commoditising what they do.[00:06:22] Why Rax worries that PR sector is not embracing influencer marketing enough and how he thinks PR firms are getting influencer marketing wrong.[00:07:55] Why ad agencies have forced the term influencer marketing onto PR – and we've just accepted it.[00:10:22] Why the word influencer has become such a broad term – it's become meaningless.[00:13:37] Why the multiple points of influence that most of us have, means that paid influencer marketing has a limited impact.[00:14:13] Why Rax finds it offensive when influencers self define themselves as influencers.[00:16:37] Why there is now no such thing as a YouTuber – all the channels are interrelated.[00:18:51] Why PROs should have a different kind of relationship with influencers who are celebrities and those who are influencers because of their expertise.[00:19:14] Why Rax believes PR should "overwhelmingly" never pay influencers.[00:20:31] Why Rax believes PR should backtrack out of paid influencer campaigns.[00:21:47] Why, bit by bit, Rax believes PR people are eroding and diluting the importance of what they do.[00:22:16] Why margins are rubbish in paid media.[00:23:38] Why, by entering the earned media space in influencer marketing, PR firms are devaluing their role.[00:25:40] Why the increasing amount of regulation in the influencer marketing space should help earned posts.[00:28:10] How to be good at influence relations, PR people have to be active to build relationships with influencers in that sector – there are no homogenous sector influencer lists; it depends on your brand, the age demographic, the target demographic, etc.  [00:29:24 ] How PR people have become too fixated on where and who influencers are –  rather than how can we work with them.[00:29:53] Why Rax uses none of the influencer mapping tools that are available.[00:35:56] What are the influencer marketing KPIs that Rax recommends?[00:39:09] Why the word ‘content’ annoys Rax.[00:39:32] Why content is not king, it is merely a vehicle to help you reach your communications objectives.

This week on the PRmoment Podcast, in the latest of our life stories series, I interviewed James Hickman, director, Hatch Communications.Hatch is a Leeds based consultancy founded in 2008 and they now have billings of £2m per annum and 25 staff. Hatch had 80% growth last year, all of which was organic growth.Clients include Diageo globally and the Rugby League World CupHere is a summary of what James and I discussed:[00:00:56] Whether it is tougher to build a PR agency business outside of London than it is within it. [00:03:22] How face-to-face client contact is so important in building longer client relationships. [00:04:46] How small agencies like Hatch can win big clients like Diageo. [00:08:41] Why some agencies in Manchester and Leeds have been "digital native" for longer than many London firms. [00:10:31] How the co-founders of Hatch Jason Madeley, Matt Peden and James launched Hatch from the ashes of Ptarmigan PR.[00:13:35] A lesson for PR agencies everywhere: Why Manchester's biggest agency Ptarmigan went from 50 people to 5 in two years. [00:15:56] Why James finds PR graduates a really good source of talent with a broader skill set than in the past.[00:16:21] Why the current decreasing number of PR degree places is a problem for the sector.[00:18:05] Why Channel 4 coming to Leeds is a big shot in the arm for Leeds creative sector.[00:19:58] How the creative agencies of Leeds wooed Channel 4 to move to the city.[00:22:51] Which other agencies in Leeds and Manchester does James admire?[00:24:49] How Hatch has grown at 80% in the last 12 months and what the future holds for the business.[00:28:52] How working with partner agencies in a collaborative way has helped Hatch grow.[00:29:33] Why geographical based PR firms are a concept from the past - geography is now not a relevant factor - it's about vertical expertise and specialist knowledge.[00:30:54] James talks us through Hatch's role as a sponsor activation agency.

This week on the PRmoment podcast, in the latest of our life stories series, I interview Dee Gibbs, founder of Liberty Communications.Dee founded Liberty Communications 21 years ago. Liberty is an independent PR firm, specialising in Tech PR. It has a turnover of £2.5m, approximately 25 people and offices in London and San Francisco.Here is a flavour of what Dee and I discussed:[00:01:20] Why, after working in-house for 15 years, Dee decided to start up her own firm.[00:04:17] Why, at launch, the agency name Liberty was chosen as a reflection of what she hoped the business would give her. [00:04:25] Dee tells us where she thinks PR tend to get things wrong from a client perspective. [00:05:47] Dee tells us what it is that she enjoys about owning her own business.[00:07:24] How Dee now runs Liberty from Portugal alongside her UK based management team. [00:09:33] Having run Liberty through multiple recessions Dee tells us how she managed the business  through those tough times.[00:09:52] Dee talks through the downsides to running your own business. [00:10:20] Why running your own business can be a very lonely.[00:11:39] Why employers should never forget that it's a serious business employing people.[00:15:21] Dee talks us through the unsuccessful merger of  Liberty into a marketing firm and subsequent reverse merger. [00:18:26] Why Dee has not tried to diversify Liberty out of its technology routes.[00:22:53] Dee discusses whether there a sweet spot of how long an agency and client should work together.[00:24:56] Why Dee isn't a big fan of PR people![00:26:51] Why Dee has never sold Liberty, despite being approached.

This week on the PRmoment Podcast, in the latest of our life stories series, I’m pleased to welcome CEO of Golin Jon Hughes.Global PR firm Golin has a fee income of about $240m. Jon has been at Golin for about 14 years, he spent six years in the UK as co-managing director alongside Matt Neale, before moving to Hong Kong to head up its international business. He became CEO alongside Matt Neale and Gary Rudnick in 2017.Here are some of the highlights of what Jon and I discussed: [00:01:15] How Jon went from working in IT sales and ended up as global CEO of a top-ten global PR firm. [00:04:28] Whether Jon has Jon got more “PR royalty” mates than anyone else? [00:06:04] Why Jon “didn't really know” Matt Neale before they became joint UK MDs of Golin. [00:07:59] Why the sector experience of Matt and Jon combined to mean that they together were the right combination to take Golin forward [00:08:52] Why Golin in London had lost its identity before Matt and Jon took over in 2005. [00:09:50] How Fred Cook's management style gave Matt and Jon "headspace" which allowed them to do things that ordinarily they wouldn't have done. [00:11:08] Why London is a hub of innovation not just for Golin, but for PR as an industry. [00:12:12] How Golin in London has grown from 25 people in 2005 to 200 today - Jon talks us through how an agency business can go on such a prolonged period of growth.  [00:12:33] Why all agencies go through cycles of success and then have to reinvent.[00:12:56] Why one of Al Golin's mantras "fix it before it breaks" is on Jon's office wall.[00:15:35] Why winning the Orange pitch meant Golin was able to hire some great consumer talent in 2006 - Bibi Hilton! [00:17:47] Why agencies need "that freshness and that hunger at scale - that's when you know you're on the money." [00:20:58] Why the client "Palm" was a critical part of the story that lead to the renewal of Glolin as a global firm.[00:22:33] Jon talks us through the G4 model ten years on.[00:26:44] Why PR firms trying to be all things to all people ends up in a vanilla proposition.[00:26:53] Why Golin has recently rebranded as a PR agency. [00:28:30] Why, when PR people run out of conversation, they either talk about PR trade bodies or the definition of PR. [00:28:51] Why some people have seen Golin rebranding itself as a PR firm as a regressive step. [00:30:29] Why Jon took the president international job in Hong Kong in 2005 despite him originally thinking that Matt Neale was going to get it.[00:32:46] Why Jon enjoys building businesses and managing change.[00:34:35] Jon compares the working styles of India, China, Singapore and Taiwan.[00:35:22] Jon talks us through Golin’s buying criteria for when it makes an acquisition.[00:37:17] Why (as the acquirer) you have to expect the unexpected when you do acquisitions.[00:38:01] Why holding groups don't acquire for revenue, they acquire for the specialism and talent.[00:38:54] Jon talks us through where Virgo Health is today, following its acquisition of Golin in 2012.[00:39:45] Following Golin's acquisition of Magic, Jon talks us through what it's like trying to buy a business in China.[00:41:30] Jon talks about how he sees the PR agency market heading from an acquisition perspective.[00:43:33] Jon discusses his favourite memories of Al Golin. 

This week on the PRmoment podcast, in the latest of our life stories series, I'm pleased to welcome Sarah Scholefield, CEO, UK and Ireland, Grayling.Sarah has worked at Grayling for five years, having previously held senior roles in Singapore with Fleishman Hillard, Ruder Finn and EdelmanGrayling has nine offices in the UK, 70 globally and 130 employees. Sarah can’t comment on these numbers because of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, but Grayling was reported to have a fee income of circa $55m globally in 2018.Here’s a flavour of what Sarah and I discussed:[00:01:22] How Sarah has restructured and changed Grayling UK since she became UK MD in 2015. [00:02:29] Why you have to take a long-term view when you're trying to turn a business around.[00:02:43] How Sarah had to get rid of the parts of the business that weren’t working as they should be. [00:02:58] Why when changing a business you've got to be quite brave and you've got to take some risks. [00:03:12] How Sarah and Paul Taaffe joining the business at the same time, having not know each other beforehand, created an appetite for change at Grayling.[00:03:44] Why Sarah believes PR agencies have to evolve constantly. [00:04:17] Why, in an agency, if you get the people right everything else falls into place. [00:04:50] How a massive talent audit was critical to the turning around of Grayling.[00:07:24] How Sarah simplified Grayling's structure.[00:08:06] How Sarah attempted to restructure Grayling while keeping the client offer as good in a competitive market. [00:10:11] What does Grayling look like today compared to three years ago? [00:10:40] Why Sarah believes work needs to give “people an opportunity to realiz=se their own potential.”[00:13:44] Why Sarah believes PR is a service industry, so PR firms need to produce a product or service that clients want and we should not try to overcomplicate things by defining the way they are structured.[00:15:00] Why you need a combination of people who know the business and new talent when you’re trying to turn a firm around.[00:15:37] How Sarah persuaded some high-profile senior people to leave established firms to join the turnaround at Grayling. [00:18:07] How has Sarah attempted to bring more quality and consistency to Grayling’s work? [00:21:12] Why Sarah made the move to Singapore for a period of her career. [00:22:14] Why the Asia PR market has, in some territories, leapfrogged European and US PR techniques.[00:24:13] Why there is often a different mindset for PR and marketing professionals working in Asia with much higher GDP and market growth rates. [00:27:54] How Sarah made the step from client lead to Grayling UK MD. [00:29:08] How Sarah's career story has taken her from a receptionist at a PR firm to the MD of Grayling.[00:32:19] Why it was her time at Freud's that made Sarah as a PR person. 

Natalie started her career at Shine in 2003 before launching Aduro in 2012. Aduro has a turnover of £1m and employs 10 people. It specialises in consumer focused public relations work.[00:00:54] Why Natalie describes Aduro as the “Ronseal of PR”.[00:02:56] Why Natalie believes it is possible to isolate the impact of PR in a consumer market where there are numerous promotional channels. [00:03:52] How working with entrepreneurs showed Natalie that if she could demonstrate the impact of PR on the entrepreneurs’ businesses, their businesses would grow and they would spend more on PR. [00:05:59] How Aduro has developed a model where it believes it can confidently point to its sales impact.[00:07:08] Why internally there is a need for PR to be able to define its cost per acquisition.[00:08:21] Why clients should own their evaluation and measurement insight, rather than farming the whole thing out to agencies.[00:09:15] How Aduro, as a consumer agency, is asking questions of clients’ evaluation methods that the clients haven't been asked before. [00:11:55] Why Natalie never, never set out to establish her own agency.[00:12:21] Why launching Aduro threw up an opportunity for creating flexible working and a genuine balance for Natalie.[00:13:04] Why Rachel Bell has a stake in Aduro.[00:13:41] Why Natalie started Aduro whilst living in Shropshire.[00:15:15] Why Natalie regards Aduro's growth as the "tortoise to some people's hare" but the slow and steady approach has worked for her. [00:15:19] Why setting up Aduro has enabled Natalie to "grow a business around having two children". [00:16:07] Why Natalie going on maternity leave early on in Aduro's "life" has meant that not everything in the business needs to flow through her. [00:16:34] What was it about having Rachel Bell as a mentor that helped Natalie grow the business?[00:17:24] How having a mentor has helped Natalie with things like the importance of business planning, networking, structure and having a five-year plan.[00:17:43] Why Natalie believes having a financial director has been one of the most important things in the progression of Aduro.[00:19:34] Why Natalie wouldn't have launched Aduro without Rachel Bell. [00:21:01] What flexible working means – because it's become quite a broad term. [00:23:28] What are the drawbacks of flexible working?[00:25:25] Can you achieve as good a result for the client if the team is working flexibly? [00:27:54] How does an agency begin the process of making flexible working work? [00:28:00] Why, for flexible working to work in a firm, you need some of the key senior people in the business to work flexibly. [00:28:42] Does Natalie believe PR still has a long working hours problem? [00:29:12] Why Natalie believes that it's now unacceptable for PR firms to have a long hours culture. [00:29:44] Why, from a timesheet perspective, agencies should be resourced at approximately 60-70% of employees time, anything more than that is not realistic and will result in staff working overtime.[00:31:41] Why PR firms need to get better at saying no to clients. [00:33:03] Why overservicing has decreased as the standard of PR work has increased.[00:33:59] Whether PR has a mental health issue greater than other elements of society. [00:36:21] Why Aduro has resigned from a number of accounts.[00:36:55] The importance of a genuinely positive client relationship where you can grow together.[00:40:06] Why does Natalie think there are co

This week, in the latest of our life stories podcast, I’m interviewing Scott Wilson, president Europe and Africa at Burson Cohn & Wolfe (BCW).Scott started his career in journalism, before becoming head of media at Porter Novelli and then managing director of consumer at Weber Shandwick.Scott then moved to Cohn & Wolfe to become UK CEO and later MD of EMEA. And when Cohn & Wolfe and Burson Marsteller merged one year ago he got the nod for the president Europe and Africa job at Burson Cohn & Wolfe.BCW global revenues are estimated at $700m and it has approximately 4,000 employees globally.Thanks to our PRmoment podcast sponsors PRCA.Here is a flavour of what Scott and I discussed:[00:01:15] As an ex-jouno turned PRO – why has public relations worked out for Scot when it hasn't for so many journalists who attempt to make the same move?[00:02:48] Did Scott move to PR from journalism because it paid more? [00:03:29] Why the head of media role is a good bridging job for a journo looking to get into public relations[00:05:30] Why his time at Weber Shandwick was such an important job in the story of Scott's career.[00:06:13] How Scott moved from a corporate role at Porter Novelli to a senior consumer role at Weber Shandwick.[00:07:46] How Scott grew Weber's UK consumer practice from circa £1m to £5m during his time there. [00:08:49] Why the pressure of not having to hold on to something, with the emphasis on the forward momentum of a business, can be liberating.[00:09:25] Scott reveals the state of the UK office of Cohn & Wolfe when he joined as UK CEO in 2010. [00:11:05] Why Scott joined Cohn & Wolfe with a combination of excitement and terror – and worried whether he was the person who would be able to turn it around.[00:11:26] How Scott turned Cohn & Wolfe from a £5m business in the U.K in 2010 to a £20m pre-merger in 2018.[00:11:38] What are the lessons from that time on how to turn a PR firm around? [00:12:35] Why pulling an agency out of a period of ongoing decline it is really the most difficult (agency) job of them all. [00:12:46] What the classic death spiral of a failing agency looks like.[00:13:59] How you can develop a degree of momentum in a turnaround if you haven't been given a cheque book to hire new talent.[00:14:54] How when Scot joined Cohn & Wolfe in 2010 there were not any practice managing directors left.[00:15:33] Why it can be dangerous when you join a firm as a leader to bring too many people in quickly from the outside. [00:16:05] How Scott takes the risk out of recruitment.[00:18:13] Why for any global agency London tends to be the second biggest office after New York. [00:18:47] Why his professional relationship with Donna Imperato will probably define Scott's career.[00:20:48] Can BCW still be a challenger brand when it is the third biggest PR firm in the world? [00:21:49] How a modern international holding PR company today is different from what it was a decade ago. [00:21:57] Hear Scott talk about how, during this incredibly successful professional time in his professional life, he's had to deal with huge personal tragedy. His daughter Edie was diagnosed with cancer in 2011 and after a long and brave battle passed away in May last year. [00:22:16] Scott pays a tribute to his daughter Edie and describes the impact her illness and passing has had on his personal and professional life.[00:26:36] How Scott allowed Edie's illness to become part of his everyday professional life and would talk about it with colleagues. [00:28:02] How as a pare

This week on the PRmoment podcast, in the latest of our life stories series, I'm pleased to welcome executive director of Premier, Lawrence Francis.Lawrence has an interesting personal career story because he has successfully made the journey from being a business development director at Premier to working client side.Premier is one of UK PR’s best kept secrets; it's a big firm. It has a turnover of nearly 20 million pounds and employs 170 people. It specialises in entertainment, art and cultural PR. Here is the flavour of what Lawrence and I discuss[00:01:07] How Lawrence made the transition from a business development role to a client-side PR role.[00:06:09] Why Lawrence was a late starter in PR and how he has managed to catch up.[00:07:11] How Lawrence changed his job role within the business. [00:09:08] Why working in businesses that have a certain scale and across multiple markets makes a new business role more sustainable. [00:11:18] How Premier, originally a film PR firm, has built itself into a £20m PR firm by having multiple, niche specialist teams.[00:14:53] Why Premier hasn't tried to launch a technology or healthcare division.[00:17:31] Lawrence discusses the growth of Premier's brand partnerships scheme.[00:18:10] Lawrence talks about the growth of the personal publicist market in the last few years.[00:18:58] Lawrence discusses to what extent a job in sales prepares you for job in PR – and to what extent is PR a sales job?[00:27:06] Why Premier tends to work for smaller organisations, rather than blue-chip firms.[00:30:22] How his previous career in sales meant Lawrence developed a robustness that has benefited his career in public relations.[00:31:58] Lawrence talks us through how London and the UK lead the world in the entertainment PR market.[00:35:53] Why experiential marketing has become more ambitious in recent years.[00:38:31] Lawrence talks us through an experiential case study of Premier’s work on Friends Fest 

This week, in the latest of our life stories podcast, I’m interviewing Neil Henderson, group director of global media and financial communications at Zurich Insurance Group.Neil is based in Switzerland.Previously, he has was head of media, content and partnerships at Which?, director of communications at Mastercard, executive director at Golin and head of media and broadcast at Red.Before this, he was a journalist with Sky, ITN and the BBC.[00:01:03] How Neil has managed his career so that he has been able to work in a broad range of sectors rather than specialise in one. [00:01:58] How for Neil, as a journalist turned PR guy, his career has always been "a bit like working a newsroom". [00:07:01] Why Neil wishes he'd stayed at Red and Golin longer than he did. [00:08:17] Whether PR people still under-prioritise the broadcast media. [00:12:38] How one of Neil's clients wanted him to get a urinal story on the Today programme. [00:13:08] Why do PR people not tell clients who have ridiculous requests to piss off?[00:16:59] Why it was Neil's time at Red that made him into a PR guy. [00:19:06] Why Neil believes that journalists continue to think that PR people are stupid. [00:20:35] Why it doesn't work out for 50% of the journalists that move into PR. [00:20:50] How media relations is only about 40% of most PR jobs these days. [00:21:47] Why you can learn more at a lunch with someone than at any other time. [00:22:20] How Neil is amazed that some agencies continue to open an Excel spreadsheet send a press release to 130 people. [00:23:28] Why senior journos calling out young PROs on Facebook for poor practice isn't a good look. [00:27:02] Why Neil’s time at Which? was his dream job. [00:29:42] Having made the move in-house - does Neil believe he'll ever move back agency side? [00:29:49] Why working in-house means that you basically have a variety of clients in the form of internal stakeholders. [00:32:46] How has it been for Neil moving his family to Switzerland? [00:34:09] How German and Swiss journalists allow PR people to make changes to the copy. [00:35:50] How as a Brit working in Switzerland it's embarrassing for Neil to talk about how badly Brexit is going to his German and Swiss friends. [00:39:04] Why Neil believes that even if there were a second referendum and the UK stayed in Europe, to a large extend the damage has been done. [00:40:37] When Neil is buying PR - what does he look for? [00:42:28] How sometimes you could put pitch documents together in a row on a table from seven agencies who pitched and if you took the names away you probably couldn't tell the difference between between some of the ideas. [00:43:23] Why Neil believes PR people even now have an obsession with print. [00:44:18] Why Neil believes agencies are still missing a trick with radio. [00:45:40] Why Neil believes PR in London is in such a good place. [00:46:58] Why Neil thinks some of the big PR shops are still overpriced: He says "Some of the bills I get are eye-watering for what what we get." [00:50:13] Whether the PR sector is more susceptible to mental health issues than some other sectors. [00:52:03] Why PR businesses don't say no enough. [00:52:08] Why PR firms don't challenge nasty clients enough.

This week on the PRmoment podcast I’m interviewing Louise Turner, head of Edelman Intelligence UK & Ireland.Louise heads up a large part of Edelman’s annual Trust Barometer research and is here to tell us about the UK findings in a global context.Louise talks about a fair bit of data in this podcast and below are a few useful links where you can learn more about the context of the discussion.To hear more about the global Trust Barometer have a look here and all the UK specific findings are hereAnd here is come background reading on measuring and diagnosing Trust.Here is a flavour of what we discussed on the podcast:[00:00:49] Louise give us an overview of the 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer results.[00:01:09] How the Edelman Trust Barometer gives an understanding of how trusted the different institutions are that govern people's lives.[00:01:28] How despite some pretty turbulent political times, the 2019 Trust Barometer saw modest rises in trust this year globally. [00:01:38] Why these modest increases in trust globally come from different institutions depending on the the region.[00:01:47] What are the four institutions that govern people's lives according to the Edelman Trust Barometer.[00:01:54 ] How 2019 saw the trust in these four institutions diverge. [00:02:14] How the "informed public’s" trust levels moved away from the mass population’s trust levels in 2019. [00:02:26] Why we are returning to a record inequality of trust between the informed publics and the mass population. [00:02:50] The UK has the biggest gap in trust between the informed publics and the mass population of all the 27 markets included in the Edelman Trust Barometer.[00:04:58] Why trust is so important for business.[00:05:54] Why is it that the UK has the highest variance of trust between the elites and the mass population?[00:06:17] How in the UK the mass population have a 40% aggregate trust score across all the four institutions compared to the elites having a trust score of 64%.[00:06:30] Why the UK's 24 point difference between the informed public and the mass population is almost double the average difference we see across other countries.[00:07:03] Why Brexit is a symptom of this trust variance in UK society. [00:07:59] What are the implications of the variance of trust between the informed public and the mass population for communicators?[00:08:12] Why The Edelman Trust Barometer UK results show how people are feeling in the absence of a strong government.[00:08:29] How six out of ten people in the UK are worried about the impact of Brexit on how people in this country treat each other.[00:09:24] How Brexit has seen media engagement rocket: 2019 has seen real jumps in people reading, sharing and amplifying the news.[00:10:52] What successful leadership looks like according to the results of The Edelman Trust Barometer.[00:11:25] How 79% of UK consumers want businesses to step up and lead on change rather than waiting for governments to drive it. [00:12:46] How consumers rank businesses treating their employees well as their number one expectation, according to The Edelman Trust Barometer.[00:14:44] How trust has changed: 10 years ago it was a top down mechanic ,then it shifted from peer to peer and now we're seeing trust becoming very local.[00:15:08] The opportunity for employers: there is a 73% trust score in your employer glo

This week on the PRmoment podcast, in the latest of our life stories series, I’m pleased to welcome co-founder and CEO of Diffusion Daljit Bhurji.Diffusion was established 11 years ago and has a turnover of £5m and employes 60 people - 30 in London and 30 in the US, with offices in New York and more recently LA.It has a range of consumer, travel and technology clients. From about 26 minutes onwards, Daljit has some interesting things to say about diversity in public relations.[00:01:14] How starting his career as part of a startup agency meant Daljit always wanted to own his own business.[00:03:10] What it was about Ivan Ristic's and Daljit's friendship that meant they trusted each other sufficiently to go into business together. [00:03:27] How Daljit ended up starting a business with one of his best friends.[00:04:22] Why Daljit stared Diffusion at the age of just 27. [00:05:44] How Diffusion launched just after the Northern Rock scandal at the height of what became The Great Recession.[00:06:17] How Diffusion planned to work with startups at launch, but ended up working for Primark and L'Oreal. [00:09:54] Why it is that some agencies have created so many PR entrepreneurs. [00:13:25] How over-servicing is contributing to stress and mental health issues in communications. [00:13:32] Why the agency model needs to be governed by processes that makes the transaction between “what clients are paying and how much time you're having to devote and the value of those outputs as clear as possible.” [00:14:08] What agencies need to do create a positive environment for employees to thrive, be confident, creative and serve client requirements. [00:15:18] How the work of successful modern PR firms is about increasing the business value of clients, not about doubling the size of your coverage or doubling the size of your instagram account. [00:16:35] How Diffusion was part of a British wave of independent PR firms that attempted launch in the US around 2012. [00:16:52] How Daljit and Ivan have built a business in the US. [00:17:24] How the media landscape and client expectations are fundamentally different in the US to the UK. [00:19:52] Why it is probably easier for a British tech PR firm to launch in America than a British consumer PR firm. [00:21:49] What Daljit and Ivan have learnt from launching Diffusion in the US.[00:22:27]  Why Daljit and Ivan always wanted to develop Diffusion at their own pace and retain its independence - they didn't want to be part of someone else's five-year investment cycle. [00:23:47] Why Diffusion decided to set up a Los Angeles office last year. [00:26:32] As a successful Asian man who runs his own thriving PR, why does Daljit believe there are not more senior BAME people working in communications? [00:26:41] Why diversity in the PR industry such a big problem for the sector.[00:26:53] How the work of Elizabeth Bananuka at BME PR Pros means Daljit no longer feels “like the only person who looks like me in the room.”[00:27:17] Why the work of Elizabeth Bananuka has meant that Daljit has met so many fantastic BAME PR professionals[00:27:50] How 13% t of the UK population belongs to an ethnic minority but, according to censuses carried out by both the PRCA and CIPR, only 8% of the PR profession belongs to an ethnic minority. [00:28:08] How PR’s diversity issue centres around London: 60% of the PR industry is based in London and 40% of the London population is an ethnic minority or from a mixed ethnic background. [00:28:59] Why as a sector of marketers and communicators PR does

This week on the PRmoment podcast, in the latest of our life stories series, I’m pleased to welcome founder and MD of Fanclub PR Adrian Ma.Fanclub was established seven years ago, has a turnover of £1m and employes 11 people.It has a consumer and B2B client portfolio including Tesco Mobile and every PR person’s favourite organisation The NLA.Adrian has some really interesting things to say about the progress of PR’s diversity problem from about 32 minutes onwards.[00:01:35] Adrian tells us about his first year in business and why there were times when it was a struggle to keep it going.[00:01:50] How a chance meeting with a journo led to Adrian setting up Fanclub PR.[00:02:28] How Adrian started Fanclub with a £500-a-month client.[00:03:34] Why Adrian had to freelance for about two years before he was able to dedicate his time 100% to Fanclub.[00:07:38] Why you have to commit to launching your own business and then things will happen for you.[00:08:31] What were Adrian's biggest challenges during Fanclub’s story so far?[00:12:38] How working with ad agency TBWA opened Adrian's eyes to the need for better creative excellence in PR.[00:14:29] How PR agencies have grown up in terms of their creative process.[00:16:00] How Adrian's real passion is music: he runs a record label, was a DJ and plays the keyboard.[00:19:30] Did Adrian give up his dream career in music to run a PR firm?[00:20:30] Are there more people writing PR books than reading them?[00:21:42] Why Adrian doesn't believe enough emphasis is placed on understanding PR as a craft and its relationship to the other marketing disciplines.[00:24:49] Why Adrian believes this generation of PR practitioners is going to be a huge force for change in the marketing mix.[00:26:19] How Adrian doesn't feel that there's enough being done for agencies to look after the mental wellbeing of their staff.[00:28:13] How working with Helen Holland and Neil Backwith at Komodo (now Chameleon) helped Adrian understand how to better run a business.[00:30:05] How Fanclub has come to specialise in digitally integrated work.[00:32:11] Why Adrian believes that the PR sector is not more diverse.[00:33:30] Adrian outlines two social trends that mean that often young BAME people don't see PR as a credible career. [00:35:25] The story of a of an Tariq Ahmed who noticed that his white peers were getting better jobs than he was and changed his name.[00:39:13] How according to the last census, 45% of the 8.2 million residents of London were white British, but how the workforce of most PR firms in London is far more than 45% white British.[00:40:55] Why PR agencies need to represent the society they're trying to communicate with.[00:41:17] What would Adrian do to improve the diversity of PR?[00:43:31] Why unconscious or conscious bias in the recruitment process against BAME applicants is better described as prejudice.[00:47:52] Why firms must not think its a case of “one and done” when it comes to BAME recruitment[00:48:24] How for there to be real change in PR’s diversity we have to get better at encouraging BAME people into it and improve recruitment practices.[00:48:54] How clients can be a significant catalyst for improved diversity.[00:49:56] How Adrian sees AI and AR impacting public relations. 

This week in the latest of our life stories podcast I’m interviewing Tom Murphy, director of global communications, Microsoft Services.Tom started his career at Text 100 in Ireland and then worked for a couple of start-ups and mid-sized firms in their in-house teams before joining Microsoft Ireland in 2005.He moved to Microsoft's head office in Redmond in the US in 2009 and is now Global Communications at Microsoft Services. Tom joined us on the phone from Redmond.Here is a summary of what Tom and I discussed:[00:00:56] What was it that he did at Microsoft Ireland that meant he got a tap on the shoulder to go to the US. [00:02:15] Why Microsoft has a career profile where you spend a couple of years learning a job, you spend a couple of years doing the job and then you look for your next move. [00:03:18] How, in Redmond, Tom can go skiing 40 minutes from his front door and gets a guaranteed four or five month summer .[00:03:39] Why in a big company you get a lot of opportunities to work in a whole range of different areas. [00:04:28] Tom tells us about his experience of working for Microsoft in the US for 10 years.[00:04:46] Tom identifies the big differences between working in-house and agency side. [00:05:46] Why in-house your perspective needs to be a mile deep and an inch wide rather than the opposite when you have in agency.[00:05:59] Why the pressures you feel in-house are very different from the questions you feel agency side.[00:06:11] Why Tom believes that communicators should try and spend time both on the agency side and in-house. [00:08:24] How TV shows like Ab Fab created a false impression of PR for Tom and almost meant he didn't target a career in public relations. [00:09:54] Why Tom believes he has been "the luckiest man alive to have fallen into a career in PR". [00:09:58] How PR provides such a diverse set of work experiences, that very few jobs can compete with.[00:10:43] Why you must retain your inquisitiveness to be at the forefront of communications.[00:10:53] Why PR and communications folks are typically at the leaders table when decisions are made. [00:11:01] How senior PR people input into major business decisions and shape strategy. [00:11:20] How the profile of public relations within Microsoft has changed in the last 10 years. [00:11:57] Why PR has always been a major strategic function for Microsoft. [00:13:11] How Microsoft has made a "massive investment" in storytelling.[00:13:32] How Microsoft uses data and insights to help it inform both its PR strategy and business strategy. [00:14:05] How does an in-house team use data? [00:14:17] How Tom is amazed at “how half are PR professional seem to be embracing data and half are ignoring it”[00:16:00] How data gives Microsoft a balanced scorecard of the business. [00:16:53] How many different KPI’s do Microsoft find useful? [00:20:11] Why Tom finds his current internal communications role enables him to get very close to the challenges of the business. [00:20:46] How do you create better employee communication within a business of 16,000 people. [00:22:02] Why the prominence of change in modern business means that communications is more important than ever. [00:22:48] How the nature of employee comms has changed in recent years. [00:24:37] Why modern employee communications is getting more complicated by the day.    

This week on the PRmoment podcast, I’m talking to co-founder of Tyto and previous global CEO of Hotwire Brendon Craigie. Brendon joined Hotwire in 2000, three months after it was founded and went on to become its group CEO. During his time at Hotwire the firm grew to have a turnover of $31 million. Unexpectedly for most observers, Brendon left Hotwire in 2017 following its acquisition of Eastwick. He set up Tyto in October of that year. Eighteen months later Tyto has a fee income of approximately £1m.Here’s a flavour of what Brendon and I discussed:[00:01.18] Why Brendon left his position as global CEO at Hotwire after it acquired Eastwick.[00:01.25] How he and the management team gew Hotwire to become a $31m, multi-sector, multi-geography PR firm.[00:05:56] Why Brendon decided it was now or never for his own start up. [00:06:09] Why Brendon's first boss Kristin Syltevik at Weber Shandwick had a massive impact on the rest of his career.  [00:10:39] How he went from Hotwire’s third employee to become its global CEO.[00:12:37] Why “growth creates opportunity” is such a truism in the agency world.  [00:14:07] How working in a business that is growing makes for a much more positive culture. [00:15:40] Why Brendon thought about setting up a mail order coffee business. [00:16:29] Why Brendon decided to stick at Hotwire for 17 years, rather than twist and make a move to another firm.[00:16:59] How Brendon thrived under the leadership of Kristin Syltevik and Anth­ony Wilson at Hotwire as they provided a "conveyor belt of challenges" for him. [00:17:41] Why Brendon found the reporting requirements of working for a holding group and the "canvas on which you've got to operate" limiting. [00:18:17] How to grow businesses you need to be entrepreneurial and speculative, but conversely to deliver the kind of results that a holding company requires you need to be a brilliant manager. [00:19:23] Whether the departure of Kristin Syltevik and Anth­ony Wilson from Hotwire in 2011 left Brendon feeling isolated or empowered.  [00:21:16] Having worked on the buy side of Hotwire’s purchase of Eastwick, Brendon gives his advice to people who are looking to build and structure their agency with a view on a sale. [00:22:36] Whether Brendon had a tear in the eye when he left Hotwire for the final time. [00:23:12] Why Brendon used to get jealous of people doing their leaving speeches.[00:23:39] Why leaving Hotwire felt like a divorce.  [00:24:39] How post-leaving Hotwire Brendon found himself feeling stressed about not having anything to do.  [00:25:17] Brendon explains Tyto's proposition.   [00:27:45] How Tyto has a location-agnostic approach.  [00:28:36] How Tyto attempts to integrate its people into dynamic client teams despite them working in numerous locations, often alone.  [00:30:59] Why, following Brendon’s experiences at Tyto, he believes that when all your staff are remote, no one feels remote.  [00:37:23] How just 18 months after launch Tyto has a fee income of £1m.

This week on the PRmoment Podcast, in the latest of our life stories series, I’m pleased to welcome co-founder and CEO of Lansons Tony Langham.Lansons is one of the UK's largest independent PR consultancies - with a fee income of circa £14m.The business was founded in 1989 by Tony and his now wife Clare Parsons. Lansons has about 110 employees.Here is a summary of what Tony and I discussed:[00:00:42] Tony tells us about the series of events that led to him and Clare launching Lansons. [00:02:56] Why, despite maxing out his and Clare Parson's new AMEX cards when they launched Lansons, they didn't really see it as a risk. [00:03:55] Tony tells us what it's like running a business with his wife for nearly 30 years. [00:06:47] Tony talks us through Lansons' ownership structure - where half of the business is owned by employees and approximately 50 percent is owned by Clare and Tony. [00:07:28] and [00:05:23] Why Lansons tends to follow a business cycle of investment where profits flatten for a while before it goes off on another growth spurt. [00:08:25] How, driven by uncertainty around Brexit, Lansons is hedging its bets by looking at international expansion. [00:11:11] The process of how Lansons has "themes" of investments it would like to make and then attempts to recruit the right person or people for the opportunity. [00:11:55] Why the need for consolidation in the agency market is an opportunity for independent cash rich firms like Lansons. [00:14:56] How does entrepreneurship manifest itself within an agency environment? [00:15:56] Why every single entrepreneurial decision has an upside and a downside. [00:18:33] Tony talks us through the investment decisions he made for Hope&Glory and Opinium Research, the combined revenues of which are now almost the same and Lansons. [00:23:28] Why Tony believes the British are too cautious investors in business and why he worries that we're getting more cautious. [00:24:36] Tony tells us why he decided to write a book on Reputation Management: The Future of Corporate Communications and Public Relations. [00:26:20] Why Tony believes the PR sector is not defining its contribution to business in the right way. [00:29:22] How writing a book meant he only got four and a half hours sleep for six months.[00:33:49] How Tony sees the PR agency model changing. [00:38:12] Why holding companies like WPP and Omnicom seem to be accepting that agency brand names aren't that important. [00:39:20] Whether an agency’s customers buy its services because they trust the brand or because of the quality of its people. [00:40:19] Tony identifies which agencies he believes are on the up. [00:42:04] Why Tony believes that "if the (PR) industry has a danger, it is that it's running itself at too lower margin and it's competing too aggressively." [00:42:41] How the differential in remuneration between management consultancies and investment banks on the one side and PR firms on the other has increased during Tony's career - and why he worries this will impact the future talent the sector is able to attract.    

This week, on the PRmoment podcast in the latest of our life stories series, I’m pleased to welcome Molly Aldridge, Global CEO of M&C Saatchi Public Relations.Molly has worked for both large and small agencies, independent and networked. She joined M&C Saatchi Public Relations in 2012.   The company has a fee income of circa £10m and employs circa 100 people.   Here is what Molly reveals:   [00:03:32] The importance of PR being a good place for parents to come back to work after having children.   [00:04:36] Why PR as a sector needs to make sure that it looks after working mums and dads otherwise you lose a whole set of talent certainly within the industry at a time when PR firms are struggling to find sufficient talent. [00:05:27] Why Molly's time at Cohn & Wolfe was such an important job in her career. [00:05:45] What makes a good public relations practitioner today. [00:06:50] Why PR needs great people brokers. [00:08:34] How sometimes a hotbed of exciting young agency talent can splinter to launch a number of different agencies. [00:10:00] Why an agency has to keep its momentum up. [00:10:03] Why the type of clients are a really important part of an agency’s momentum. [00:10:03] How an agency can lose its momentum. [00:12:29] The difference of working for a big agency compared with an independent agency. [00:14:57] Why you need to be a lot more autonomous, a lot more proactive and a lot more entrepreneurial in a smaller firm. [00:15:23] Why Molly's time at Henry's House was critical to the success of Slam. [00:15:46] Why success is a mixture of hard work and luck. [00:18:10] How the opportunity to create and lead Slam came about. [00:18:45] Why the launch of Slam would not have worked without Scott Wilson's sponsorship. [00:19:58] Why the launch of Slam worked when so many other consumer offers of large PR firms have failed. [00:20:20] Why rapid agency growth is much easier if you grow as your clients grow. [00:23:30] How Slam managed to grow at 30% year on year with a profit margin of 30% in the consumer PR market. [00:24:59] Why was Colin Byrne such a good mentor to Molly? [00:26:43] Why in a “US holding company world” you need someone at a senior level to have your back. [00:28:19] Why did Molly leave Slam - which she had grown to a multi-geography global PR firm  - to join M&C Saatchi PR which at the time had a fee income of less that £1m? [00:31:08] Why the right opportunities should make you excited and terrified in equal measure. [00:31:37] Why Molly felt she'd taken Slam as far she could. [00:31:42] Why, because of its US-based ownership, Molly felt (at the end) the relationship was getting a bit parent-child like. [00:33:10] How Molly and Chris Hides have taken M&C Saatchi Public Relations from a fee income of circa £1 million to over £10 million. [00:33:54] Why growing an agency business quickly is really about relationships, people and hard work. [00:35:53] The mystery of why there is not more cross pollination of clients in multi-discipline marketing firms. [00:37:56] the In the absence of global British brands how has Molly grown M&C Saatchi Public Relations globally. [00:40:26] Why the partnership between Molly and Chris Hides works so well. [00:44:38]</

This week, in the latest of our life stories podcast series, I’m interviewing Giles Fraser.Giles is co-founder of Brands2Life. He started the agency in 2000 with Sarah Scales and today, the agency has over 140 staff, a fee income of £14m and offices in the UK and US.  Giles started his career at mid-sized agency Infopress on Fleet St when the papers were all still there and he spent four years pitching stories to journalists in the newsrooms and pubs.He then moved on to work in the communications strategy team at management consultants PA Consulting.During this time he studied for an MBA in the evenings at Cass Business School.He then moved in-house to IT services firm Logica where he oversaw all its global communications.In 1995, he left Logica to take on the role of MD of Hill and Knowlton’s tech team and, over the next five years, grew the revenues of this division ten-fold.Giles launched Brands2Life in 2000 alongside co-founder Sarah Scales.  He lives in Barnes with his wife, Alex and three daughters.Here’s a summary of what Giles and I talked about: [00:01:24] What advice Giles would offer to people who are thinking about setting up their own firm today.  [00:01:57] How having a great corporate partner (as opposed to doing it on your own) can make launching a business a lot easier.  [00:03:31] Why when launching a business you need to decide what sort of business you're going to have - are you going to have basically a lifestyle business or are you going to have a growth business?[00:03:52] What are the tensions between a growth business and a lifestyle business? [00:05:58] Giles identifies two important periods of his career which influenced the success of Brands2Life.  [00:07:22] How, when Giles first started in PR, he'd just walk up to a newsdesk and pitch stories.face to face.  [00:07:42] Why Giles had to demonstrate a hacky sack footbag in front of the newsroom. [00:10:20] Why Giles decided to go and do an MBA in the evenings at Cass Business School.[00:10:57] How his time at the management consultancy PR Consulting influenced the rest of his career.  [00:14:05] Why Giles believes PR people stop training and developing too early.[00:14:34] Whether reading English at Oxford (as Giles did) was the perfect preparation for a career in PR. [00:17:13] Giles tells us what's changed and what has remained the same in PR since 1993. [00:18:17] Why the PR world was a much smaller business community in the 1980s and 1990s.  [00:20:19] Why the the toolset and opportunities available to PR practitioners has widened incredibly.[00:21:00] Why the immediacy of social and the need for preparedness has changed the profile of PR.  [00:21:56] Why agencies need to build their capabilities to take advantage of their ideas, often at speed.  [00:23:28] What's behind the strategy that has enabled Brands2Life's growth to outperform the market.  [00:23:50] Why an agency must have a mechanism to get regular formal and informal client feedback their changing requirements.[00:24:02] Why the changing nature of modern public relations has given tech PR firms a competitive advantage. [00:27:32] The importance of values, ethos and culture in agency life. [00:29:27] How Brands2Life try to take the risk out of recruiting senior hires.  [00:30:47] How Giles managed his career moves prior to starting Brands2Life.

This week I'm interviewing Aaron Kwittken, founder of KWT in the latest of life stories podcasts.  Aaron started KWT, formally Kwittken, 13 years ago. Before this he followed a big agency career path working at MSL, Ketchum, Fleishman, Cohn and Wolfe and Havas.  KWT has a fee income of $12 to $15 million dollars and around 80 employees including 12 in London.  Aarron sold KWT to MDC Partners in 2010 and still owns a minority stake in the firm.  MDC Partners also owns Allison Partners, Hunter PR and Sloane & Co. Here is a summary of what Aaron and I discussed: Why having spent 13 years working for some of the world's biggest PR firms he decided to launch Kwittken. 0.59 mins  Why mediocrity can hide at big agencies in a way in can't in smaller firms. 01.19 mins Why it's wrong that the more senior you get in a large agency the further away you get from actually serving clients. 01.43 mins  How Aaron defines the difference between practice areas and specialisms, and why it's an important consideration in how you organise an agency. 02.05 mins  Why the need for more of a collaborative approach means agencies must rid themselves of departments and fiefdoms. 02.53 mins  How KWT is set up so that junior staff don't have a vertical specialsm, it's a matrix structure. 03.09 mins Why the greatest mark of success of a business is not what an employee does while they're with you, but what they do when they leave. 04.08 mins  Why matching people's passions to the clients they work on is really important. 04.30 mins Whether Aaron regrets selling KWT at such an early stage (when it had eight employees, it now has 80). 05.54 mins  How MDC Partners merged KWT into a digital agency and then KWT "spun themselves back out". 05.59 mins Why there will be 2 types of PR firms - earned media shops and brand marketing agencies. 07.51 mins  What impact the financial difficulties of KWT's owner and holding company MDC Partners has on the business. 09.56 mins Why London still is such an important place for US firms to have a presence. 11.17 mins  What has Aaron learnt from acquiring PR agencies? 14.06 mins Why Aaron looks at agencies like shopping malls. 15.31 mins Which areas Aaron wants to make acquisitions in in London next year. 16.38 mins and 28.39 mins Why short-term earn outs in PR don't work. 17.34 mins Why KWT is bigger now than if Aaron had not taken investment from MDC Partners. 19.40 mins Why Aaron never wants to grow KWT beyond 150-200 people. 21.06 mins  Why agencies need a purpose. 24.07 mins Why the dots on the map approach to international PR firms is outdated. 24.48 mins How Aaron took up Ironman in 2008 after his dad passed away from congestive heart failure. 31.26 mins  Why Aaron's best thinking is done when he's swimming. 33.45 mins  Why Aaron isn't worried about Brexit. 36.15 mins  Why firms that have multiple offices spread their risk. 37.05 mins 

This week on The PRmoment podcast I’m catching up with Rebecca Blinston-Jones, UK managing director of MWWPR.MWWPR is a US-owned, mid-sized PR firm with revenues of $40-50m that employs around 250 people.In the UK it has revenues of £1.7m and employs around 20 people.Here is a taster of what Rebecca and I discussed: How her formative years at Text 100 played a huge part in Rebecca’s career 1.05 minsHow Rebecca met her husband at Text 100 1.40 minsHow Rebecca used to sign clients on the back of napkins during her time at Mantra PR How Mantra survived the dot.com crash and was then sold to Lowry Group and merged into Speed Communications. 4.30 minsHow Rebecca met and worked for Patrick Herridge at Mantra Communication, then they worked together at Parys Communications and then at MWWPR 6 minsHow Rebecca had equity in both Mantra and Parys - and why the trend of owners offering equity in exchange for fees is less popular than in the past 7 minsWhy Rebecca likes working for businesses when they are “early stage”  8.15 minsThe current “micro” acquisition trend in the UK PR market 10 minsHow PR firms are purchasing non-PR businesses 10.40 minsThe rise of independent mid-sized PR firms in London 11.40 minsHow in the US agencies have started setting up in tier 2 and tier 3 cities to address the cost of living in US big cities 13 minsWhy many mid-sized firms from the US have a “small” brand in London but big ambitions 14  minsRebecca talks about MWWPR acquisition plans 14.30 minsThe challenges of finding the right people for a senior team in London 20 minsThe risk of senior recruits going wrong 21.30 minsWhy Rebecca decided she wanted to become UK MD of MWWPR 25 minsWhy there needs to be equal childcare responsibility between a husband and wife 27 minsRebecca tells us about MWWPR’s growth plans for the UK business 30.30 mins

In a special PRmoment podcast I talk to Howard Kosky, CEO of 4DC, the recently launched podcast consultancy.   In a wide-ranging conversation about podcasts, here is a summary of what Howard and I discussed:   Why the rise in podcast popularity is linked to the continued popularity of radio 0.50 minsWhether the rise of podcasting is linked to consumers getting screen fatigue 1.42 minsThe trend of narrowcasting 2.20 minsThat 11% of UK adults listen to a podcast each week, average hours listening is just over 3.5 hours each week 3.15 minsHow the use of podcast in the UK has increased from 3.2 million adults to 5.9 million adults a week according to Ofcom's figures 3.45 minsWhat does a podcast need to be successful? 5.55 minsWhat are the opportunities for brands within podcasting as a channel 7.44 minsWhy it’s important not to underestimate the amount of production required to launch a podcast 8.35 minsShould brands appear on their own podcasts, or partner on another podcast? 10.25 minsHoward gives an insight into the “in play” opportunities in the US podcast market 11.40 minsWhy brands must be brave and committed to successfully launch a podcast 12.10 minsWhy poorly produced podcasts can negatively affect your brand 13.25 minsWhat type of brands should and should not produce podcasts 14 minsHow 49% of under 35 years olds in the UK listen to podcasts 14.25 minsHow the ease of access to podcasts has been an important part of their growth 15.20 minsWhy promotion of a podcast is the critical element of podcast production 16.10 mins and 19.08 minsThe average listenership of podcasts in the UK is 3.5 hours a week, radio is at about 22 hours a week (UK adult average) 17.05 minsThe average dwell time on a podcast is over 20 mins 17.25 minsHow consumers are interacting with podcasts as a channel 18 minsHoward tells us about his favourite podcasts 21.04 minsWhy brands normally require a lifestyle content strategy, not a product content strategy, for podcasts 24.50 mins and 28.05 minsHow consumers search for podcasts 22.15 mins and 29.38 minsWhich brands should not produce a podcast 26.30 minsHow podcast charts influence a consumer’s choice of podcasts 30.35 minsWhy how many downloads a podcast has is often a false metric 32 mins How brands can grow their podcast listenership 33.20 minsWhy many of the best podcasts include comedy 33.40 minsHow far brands are able to push podcast content depending on their tone of voice 36.15 minsWhy the PR sector needs to be careful about how they produce podcasts 39 minsWhether brands can experiment with podcasting as a channel, or whether they need to go all in 41.40 mins  

This week on the PRmoment podcast. in the latest of our life stories series, I’m pleased to welcome co-founder of Taylor Herring, James Herring.  James started Taylor Herring in 2001 alongside his then girlfriend Kath Taylor.   Taylor Herring has had quite a 12 months, with work with Greggs, The Beano, Samsung, Diageo and Easyjet (and I could go on) grabbing attention.  Taylor Herring is one of a group of independent firms in London who seem to be pushing the boundaries of public relations - to a more integrated place, but it is doing that by unashamedly taking advantage of its understanding of what is required to make a story fly in earned media.  Taylor Herring Group has billings of around £4.5m and employs around 20 staff.   Here is the flavour of what James and I discuss:   How James ended up getting his first job in talent management at comedy agency Avalon 1.15 minsHow James ended up working on 10 Edinburgh Festivals 5.20 minsWhy James wanted to work in media and show business and didn’t intend to have a career in PR 5.45 minsWhy there two halves to James career - a talent management half and a PR half  5.40 mins How the humourous accent of work that James learnt on the comedy circuit still underwrites Taylor Herring today 6.40 minsHow James’ client portfolio used to include Frank Skinner, Harry Hill, The Mighty Bush and Chris Addison 7 minsWhy Fantasy Football and Baddiel and Skinner was James first big break 7.30 minsWhen James suddenly had to understand KPIs , a SWOT Analysis and Powerpoint 10.10 minsHow James' second big break to take him beyond comedy and into PR was Channel 4 and Big Brother 10.50 minsThe story of hows James’ and Channel 4’s plan of a decoy car and secret hotel for Nasty Nick failed 12.25 minsWhy that Big Brother Nasty Nick moment was a pivotal moment in James’ career 14.15 minsHow the launch of Taylor Herring came about 15.20 minsHow James met his now wife and business partner Kath Taylor 15.43 minsJames talks about why Taylor Herring has not an been an overnight success story and how the story of the business separates into two halves 18 minsHow Taylor Herring made the jump from working with media brands to consumer brands 26 minsWhy Paddy Power was a significant “stepping stone” client for Taylor Herring 27.30 minsWhy James loves clients like Paddy Power which makes him “run with scissors”  29.15 minsIn order to stand out you have to be bold in your thinking 30 minsWhy James believes technology is killing advertising 30.15 minsWhy advertising is losing its influence on society 31 minsWhy James believes PR firms are taking significant budget from advertising firms 33 minsWhy James believes we’re already past the peak of influencer marketing budgets 33.15 minsJames tells us about the Fuck me Doris test for The Sun’s editorial and why this matters to PR people 36 mins Why simplicity is key to creativity 38.20 minsJames talks us through Taylor Herring’s creative process 39 minsWhy a failed pitch to M&S changes the way Taylor Herring approached new business, how they should work and what type of people Taylor Herring should hire 41 mins Why a procurement department’s involvement in a pitch tends to kill creativity 41.30 minsWhy James doesn’t think Taylor Herring is the right agency for luxury brands or high street brands 46.20 minsWhy Taylor Herring likes to take its clients on a jour

Welcome to a slightly different PRmoment podcast. This week we're going to be doing a year in review of 2018.  The show will be divided up into three parts. First up, we have Alice Weightman, founder and CEO of Hanson Search, who's going to talk to us about the PR talent market in 2018.  Then we have PRCA director general Francis Ingham, who’ll be giving us a wider perspective about the health of the sector over the past 12 months. Finally, we have Taylor Herring co-founder James Herring guving us his perspective on the most interesting pieces of work over the past year.Here’s a summary of what Alice and I talked about:The “busyness” barometer of the UK PR sector in the last 12 monthsThe impact of Brexit on PR recruitmentHow the shift from retainer work to project work has affected the recruitment market How 2018 started with a lot of focus on senior hires in PR, but this then fell away over the summerThe trend of talent going client-side in 2018How the continuing divergence of PR practice is splitting the talent market in twoTo what extent management consultants are hiring in great PR talentThe trend of PR firms hiring business consultants in 2018Alice reveals the types of positions that are in most demand in 2018Alice discusses the potential negative impact of a bad hire at a senior levelWhy independent firms are hiring different people from the larger groupsWhy hiring trends in PR are in a period of change and evolutionWhy the rise of freelancers is disrupting the business model for PR markets such as healthcareWhy a lack of flexible working is driving people towards freelance workAnd here is a summary of what Francis Ingham and I discuss:  A perspective on the financial state of the global PR sectorHow UK PR is powering ahead financiallyWhat have been the biggest challenges for PR in 2019How talent and evaluation have again been PR's greatest challenges in 2018Why the large, mid-size and small agencies have all had different types of problems in 2018Why mid-size generalist PR firms are having a tough timeThe advantages that independent agencies have over the holding companiesWhether Francis thinks that PR is winning market share from the advertising sectorFrancis questions whether PR has overemphasised its over-servicing problemWhy Francis believes there is an intrinsic link between PR's evaluation problem, its inability to charge more and its growth-limiting talent problem.And lastly, James Herring co-founder of Taylor Herring, gives us his top five campaigns of 2018. 

This week, on the PRmoment podcast, as part of our life stories series, I’m interviewing Barbara Bates, global CEO of Hotwire. Barbara was joint founder of the independent US tech specialist Eastwick and ran the firm for 25 years before selling to Hotwire, in what was Hotwire’s parent firm Enero Group’s biggest acquisition for the agency to date.Following Hotwire’s takeover of Eastwick, Barbara became global CEO of the agency that had bought her company.Hotwire has grown significantly since the acquisition and now has 250 staff in 12 different countries.Here is a flavour of what we discussed:Barbara outlines how the tech sector has grown throughout her career, particularly in the USBarbara tells us how Eastwick got its witch-themed nameHow to manage a PR firm through three different recessionsWhy PR firms need to be know as being really good at one thingWhy PR firms need to work with both larger brands and start-upsWhy PR firms should be able to prepare their clients for sale, don’t just roll over for the financial PR firmsBarbara tells us how she felt when she had to cut the number of  employees in half when the dot-com bubble hitWhy bravery is a vital part of leading a PR firmHow the 2008 financial crash did not impact tech firms in the US “anything like” as much as the dot-com crashWhether the growth the tech sector is currently experiencing is a bubble or the new normWhy the agency of record model has been “dismissed” and firms now want agile specialistsBarbara talks us through the positive growth in the US PR sector currently, with the exception of the large firmsWhy the dearth of available talent in New York and San Francisco is seeing the opening of offices in tier-two citiesWhy Barbara could have sold her business many times over the 10-year period prior to the Hotwire/Eastwick dealWhy cultural misalignment is the chief reason agency acquisitions often don’t workWhy Barbara didn’t think Hotwire would be able to afford EastwickWhat it is like going from being bought by Hotwire to working for HotwireWhy Barbara regrets losing the Eastwick brand so quicklyWhy Barbara taking over as CEO of Hotwire in 2017, replacing previous CEO Brendon Craigie, was not part of the original planThe challenges and lessons of the Hotwire/Eastwick “merger”Why Hotwire is trying to build a networked agency at a time when the networked agency is arguably going out of fashionBarbara tells us about the reasons behind the rapid growth of mid-sized firmsHow the London Hotwire team picked up $1m in fees “in a matter of months” after the Eastwick mergerWhat’s the longer term plan for Barbara and Hotwire?

This week, on the PRmoment podcast, as part of our life stories series, I’m interviewing  Nik Govier, founder and CEO of agency Blurred. Previously, Nik was the co-founder of consumer PR shop Unity. At its peak, Unity had a turnover of circa £4m. Nik has recently founded and self backed her new venture Blurred, which launched last month. Here is a flavour of what we discussed: How a job as a tour guide at at Madame Tussauds led to a career in PR 1 min  How Nik’s early career was in corporate PR, but despite this she then moved to consumer PR when she started Unity 2.30 mins  How a random account win set the tone for Unity’s consumer specialist success story 4.45 mins  How awards built the momentum for the growth of Unity 6.50 mins  What the creative process looked like for Gerry and Nik at Unity 8.50 mins  Why the combination of being able to be a planner and a creative is such a rare skill set 10.15 mins  What the link between creativity and planning looks like in practice 11.40 mins  Is it possible to be creative everyday? 14.40 mins  Whether people have a creative life cycle 15.50 mins  Understanding creative fatigue 16.10 mins  Why the rise of the freelance creative may lead to the ‘vanilla-isation’ of creativity 18.30 mins  How PR is doing in the race for integrated communications 20.10 mins  Why some big famous PR firms have ‘let the sector down’  20.30 mins  Why doing ambitious, integrated work is vital to increasing budgets 22.10 mins  Why the budgets are often smaller in PR, but the margins are better 24.34 mins  Why ad agencies may have a great idea, but they don’t know how to make it "run across earned media" 25.05 minsWhy the market is there for PR to thrive as integrated communications firms, they just need to confidence to pitch for larger budgets with bigger ideas 25.20 mins   Why Nik has a chip on her shoulder 25.50 mins  Nik says agencies of Ogilvy’s size have no choice but to restructure; they will have to break something before they will be able to rebuild it 29.30 mins Where Nik sees the marketing communications agency market in 10 years’ time 32.00 mins  Why PR people’s uncertainty about their role in the world is so frustrating 33.35 mins  Why the PR measurement debate is over and needs to move on quickly 35.10 mins  Why advertising people are not smarter that PR people 37 mins  How the advertising and media agencies are dealing with the seismic changes impacting their sectors 37.40 mins  How Nik has structured Blurred and what does the skill make-up of the team look like? 42.20 mins  Why the era of one-size-fits-all creative is over 45.45 mins  Why naivety can bring creative advantages 47.30 mins  Why Nik wants to scale Blurred ‘very quickly’ and is a ‘lady in a rush’  48.45 mins

This week, on the PRmoment podcast, I’m interviewing  Mandy Sharp, founder of Tin Man. Mandy founded Tin Man in 2013 and it now has a fee income of £1.3m and employs 20 people. Previously, Tin Man was part owned by Unity co-founders Nik Done and Gerry Hopkinson, but Mandy has recently bought them out and is now the sole owner of Tin Man. Here is a summary of what we discussed:How it feels for Mandy owning 100% of Tin Man, having bought out Nik Done and Gerry Hopkinson who previously owned a minority stake Why her first job in PR taught her how not to do it Why her time at Band & Brown had a big impact on her career Why there is a pattern of two founders setting up PR firms Why Mandy always knew she’d set up her own business, but was still nervous about it Why Mandy has launched a business each time she has been on maternity leave How it came about that Nik Done and Gerry Hopkinson became minority partners in Tin Man, despite them not backing the business financially Whether Mandy regrets giving equity away in her business Whether Tin Man is smaller because Mandy didn’t take a financial investment in the business in the early years How and why Tin Man has retained a broad spectrum of consumer sector work Why great work for a dull brand can be the most fulfilling Why Mandy believes Tin Man has a different approach to creative communications What it’s like to be a sole founder of a business, rather than doing it as a pair Whether Mandy believes that consumer PR firms in London are gaining market share from other marketing disciplines What are Mandy’s three key pieces of advice for potential PR entrepreneurs out there? Why you have to take risks when you run a business Mandy tells us about her ambitious growth plans for Tin Man to double in size in the next two years and why she’s about to make some senior hires

This week, on the PRmoment oodcast, I interviewed Angie Wiles, founder of The Difference Collective.Previously, Angie founded Virgo Health with Sarah Matthew in 2003 before selling Virgo to Golin in 2012. Both Sarah and Angie have now left Golin.Angie is now doing it all again and set up The Difference Collective last year.Here is a summary of what we discussed: Why Angie preferred PR to marketing at uni  How she blagged a job at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and was on the IOC's press team during the Ben Johnson drug scandal  How Angie got into healthcare communications  Why Angie disagrees with my suggestion that healthcare PR is boring  Angie describes the different elements of healthcare PR, from the prescription side, to over-the-counter, to medical education  The impact of working in a regulated market for healthcare communications professionals  The differences in healthcare communications in the UK and the US  Why the UK leads the world in healthcare communications  Why working in a regulated market has pushed healthcare communicators to be at the forefront of communications practice  How healthcare firms are engaging with audiences online, within a regulated market  Why Angie decided to leave Cohn & Wolfe to set up Virgo with Sarah Matthew (who had previously been at Shire Health)  How Angie and Sarah setup Virgo despite not knowing each other particularly well beforehand  Why Virgo Health was so successful so quickly  Why Angie and Sarah decided to sell Virgo to Golin  Why procurement was a significant reason for selling the business  Whether Angie enjoyed working for a holding firm, having been her own boss for so long  Why Angie felt compromised during her time at Golin  How Angie coped with being diagnosed with breast cancer during her time at Golin  In hindsight, does Angie regret selling to Golin?  Why company owners should not sell just for the money  Why adversity can often bring out our best moments  Why Angie wishes she’d left Golin earlier  Why Angie decided not to set up a wine bar but launch The Difference Collective  Why Angie believes the structure of modern agencies needs to change  Why the PR sector needs to find a way to incentivise senior talent to stay in the sector 

This week, on the PRmoment Podcast, I’m interviewing Adrian Talbot, global CFO at Hotwire.   Most PR agency entrepreneurs I speak to reckon the time they hired an experienced financel director was a critical moment for the growth of their business – so I thought it would be interesting to get an experienced PR agency FD on the show to talk.   Adrian has held senior FD posts in various PR firms for the last 15 years, including Hotwire, Instinctif, Bartle Bogle Hegarty and Burson Marsteller.   Here is a summary of what we discussed: The most important challenges for a finance director in a consultancy business The difficulties of financial forecasting for a PR firm when clients can give you three months’ notice The difficulties of managing hard-to-predict revenues against a fixed staff cost The difficulty that public relations has in selling an intangible product Why a successful FD must involve themselves in the business – not just be the person who pays the bill Why the FD needs to continually monitor your revenue and staff costs Why Adrian reckons he is in charge of births, marriages and deaths at Hotwire! What do PR firms get wrong in their financial management? Why PR firms should have weekly revenue and pipeline forecast tools How to manage client ove-servicing early Why PR firms need to recognise buy signals and negotiate more strongly The mix of fixed costs and marginal costs that make up a PR firm The cost and profit make-up of most PR firms – people, operating expenses and profit Why the average UK agency profit margin is 13%, against a target of 20% Why the number of freelancers working in PR firms is not dramatically increasing Why freelancers need to be experts within a niche, not generalists Why the definition of a retainer client has changed The challenges of running a PR firm as the company grows Why the key reflection points for agency growth challenges tend to be around 3, 10, 30, 100, and 300 people Why Hotwire is moving to value-based pricing Why clients are not interested in timesheets Why timesheets are now an internal business management tool, not an external pricing mechanisms Why the revenues of PR firms tend to be cyclical How Hotwire has managed to grow its global footprint geographically over the last 10 years How Hotwire’s new(ish) CEO Barbara Bates has had a big impact on Hotwire’s growth in the last two years The difference of being an FD in a public and private owned business Why technology systems are becoming an increasing cost for PR firms Why Adrian has set up the Hotwire band – Borderless Thinkers! 

This week, on the PRmoment podcast, I’m interviewing Brad MacAfee, chief executive officer, senior partner at Porter Novelli. Brad has worked at Porter Novelli for the past 18 years and is now the global CEO of this Omnicom-owned PR firm. Porter Novelli has around 90 offices in 60 countries. Here is a flavour of what Chris and I discussed: Brad identifies what he sees as the four growth categories for public relations over the next few years 1 minWhether company purpose has become the new CSR? 2.30 minsWhy consumer behavior is fuelling the rush for company purpose 4 minsWhy Brad almost left Porter Novelli in 2006 when he didn’t make partner 6.30 minsWhy Brad decided not to leave Porter Novelli 7.20 minsWhy personal career management is really important 8.46 minWhy the first 100 days of your time at a company sets the tone 10 minsWhether networked agencies have become unfashionable 11.05 minsWhy networked agencies have a bright future, but a very different future to independent agencies 11.30 minsWhy the advantages of scale are so important for networked agencies 12 minsWhy Omnicom having 5000 people in London is a competitive advantage 12.30 minsWhy the specialisation on offer within the holding companies excites Brad 13.00 minsWhy the diversity of skills and scale in the networked model scale will eventually lead to better quality work for brands 13.30 mins and 16 minsHow Omnicom PR group mix and match teams across its PR operations for specific briefs 14.30 minsWhether there is a tension for Brad in representing both the Omnicom PR and  Porter Novelli brands 17.00 mins What does “putting employees first” mean in a PR firm? 19 minsWhy employees now expect great experiences at work 22.10 minsFrom a management perspective what’s it like working for a holding company like Omnicom 23.35 minsWhether Omnicom PR firms ever pitch against each other 25.45 minsHow Brad became CEO of Porter Novelli 27.55 minsWhat skill set you need to become CEO of a global firmWhy you need a great mix of mentors to have a great careerThe skills required to be a good PR person today Why PR firms need a stable of clients to help them stay innovativeWhich regions of the world Porter Novelli is prioritising 38.30 minsWhat is the job specification of a global CEO in a global PR firm? 40 minsWhy Porter Novelli decided to get involved in Giving Tuesday 41 minsWhy diversity matters in PRHow Facebook CMO Antonio Lucio insisted Facebook’s agencies had diverse teamsWhy there will only be progress on diversity once it is measured Why PR firms should always be recruitingHow diverse teams within Porter Novelli have been the most successful commercially and in terms of the quality of the work

This week, on the PRmoment Podcast, I’m interviewing Chris Talago, VP PR & communications, JAPAC & EMEA at Oracle.   Chris started his career in the British Army before moving, fairly randomly it has to be said, into PR. He started his career in-house before moving agency side with jobs at Text 100 and Hill and Knowlton. He then moved in-house to AMD before tacking back agency side to become general manager EMEA at Waggener Edstrom (now WE) before taking the Oracle job in 2016.  Here is a flavour of what Chris and I discuss:Why Chris always wanted to be a soldier in the British Army 1.30 minsWhy he chose to become an infantry soldier 2.02minHow his father’s time in the Polish parachute regiment during The Second World War shaped Chris’s career in the Army 2.25 minsWhether Chris saw action during his time in the Army 3.25 minsWhy Chris spent the first Iraq War in the North of Scotland! 4.30 mins Why Chris left the British Army 5.30 minsHow Chris got his first job in PR when he left the Army 7.00 minsWhat it’s like being a veteran coming out into civvy street 8.00 minsWhat can be done to help veterans coming out of the services find employment 11.10 minsWhich two jobs had a huge influence the rest of his PR career 15.30 minsWhy Text 100 gave Chris a GM role in South Africa when he had no previous agency experience, had only worked in PR for four years and had never been to Africa before 17.30 minsHow Chris became an expert in change management 18.45 minsWhy Chris moved to the US just after the dot-com boom in 2001 19.50 minsHow during the dot-com crash there were multiple firms going into Chapter 11 each month How the Text 100 Boston office halved within six months of the dot-com crash Why the IBM pitch meant that Text 100 suddenly became ‘the only hirer in town’ in 2000 24 minsWhy Chris left New York and came back to the UK 26.40 minsWe discuss Chris’s time as EMEA head at WE (Waggener Edstrom) 26.50 minsThe challenges of taking a PR agency from a media-relations shop to a new world of social, digital and SEO. 28.30 minsThe challenges of getting different internal buyers to buy from the same agency 29.40 minsAs a buyer of PR what is Chris looking for when he purchases PR services? 31.02 minsWhy Chris believes it is a difficult difficult time for PR agencies 33 mins Why Oracle is now buying services from a broader range of agencies 33.33 minsThe difficulties of plugging the specialist agencies workflow into your retained firm 34.15 minsWhy there is now more than ever an emphasis on in-house teams to be an intelligent buyer of marketing services 35.33 minsWhat advice does Chris give to young leaders on public relations? 37.15 minsChris’s top three challenges for PR and communications people right now 41.48 minsIf you can't sell an idea you are going to have a limited life span in PR 42.12 minsWhy as an in-house PR person Chris is only as good as the impact he is able to demonstrate his team is having on the business  45.45 minsWhy Chris always wants to separate the “church from the state” when it comes to the agency doing the measurement 46.15 mins  

This week, on the PRmoment Podcast, I’m interviewing Vanessa Pine, co-founder of Atlas Partners. What I love about Vanessa’s career is that it’s real! She says she doesn’t have any regrets, but there are a few career decisions which I suspect, in hindsight, she could have played out differently.Vanessa is currently a director at Atlas Partners which employs 10 people and has a fee income of £600K. Atlas was founded in 2015.Here is a summary of what Vanessa and I discussed: Vanessa tells us what it was like to work on the Lib Dem campaign in the 2010 general election when “I agree with Nick” briefly became one of the nation's favourite phrases  How the TV debates changed the dynamic of UK election campaigns  Why the Lib Dems went to 40% in the polls for a brief period  How a very small Lib Dem general election team were almost over-run by the momentum of the 2010 Lib Dem campaign  Why Vanessa left the UK public affairs scene to go to Australia when the Lib Dems went into coalition government – at precisely the point when she was most valuable from a UK-career perspective  What the differences are between the UK PR scene and the Australian PR scene  Why UK PR people are highly prized in Australia  How Vanessa ended up working on the “Australian Year of the Farmer” campaign  How Vanessa coped with being made redundant from her job in Australia – with the risk of her being deported  Why the uncertainty is the worst part of being made redundant  How Vanessa became PR manager in Australia for Coca Cola – a job she doesn’t think  she would have had in the UK  Why recruitment in public relations has become such a conservative process of risk management  What does a political special advisor (SpAds) actually do?  Why the SpAds role is a blend of media and policy  How politics is the art of the possible – it’s not an ideological exercise  The role SpAds play in the presentation and politics of policy  How SpAds coordinate with civil servants  How Vanessa’s previous career influenced the positioning of Atlas Partners  Why minority partners in coalitions “get slammed every single time” in elections  Why Vanessa launched Atlas Partners  The virtuous circle of running a consultancy business: Why happy staff mean happy clients  Why it took Vanessa 10 years to gain the confidence to launch her own business  How the overlap between media and politics is creating opportunities for firms like Atlas Partners 

This week on the PRmoment Podcast I interview co-founder and executive creative director at The Romans, Joe Mackay-SinclairJoe launched The Romans less than 4 years ago and already it has a fee income of about £3.5m and employs 30 people.Here is a summary of what Joe and I discuss:Whether he regrets Mother investing in a minority stake in The Romans, or whether he wished The Romans had remained independent 35 secs How the partnership with Mother has benefited The Romans 2.20 mins Why we all need some mentors in our lives 4.20 minsWhat does the fact that virtually none of The Roman’s clients are Mother’s clients say about the need for integrated agencies 4.45 mins What do clients want when they are purchasing marketing services 6.45 minsWhere The Romans are currently winning work 7.30 secs Why good work is the key ingredient in the growth of a PR firm 8.35 mins Why Joe decided that a career in PR was for him 8.40 mins How Joe moved from working in digital agencies to a creative director at Burson Marsteller 10.30 mins Whether Joe enjoyed watching PMQs and working with Tories 12.32 mins Why he decided to start an agency 13.35mins Why winning a Cannes Lions Awards with the British Legion while at Burson Marsteller was an incredible moment in his career 14.30 mins Why Joe didn’t enjoy garden leave 15.35 mins Why Joe wants to make work that his Mother is proud of! 18.50 mins Why Joe doesn't believe any agency in public relations has a unique proposition 19.25 mins Why Joe was sick 6 times before the first pitch he ever did! 21.50 mins What Joe believes the role of a creative director should be 23.30 minsHow to create an environment where creativity thrives 25 mins Why Joe had to cancel a pitch after an all nighter at The PRmoment Awards 26.30 minsWhether The Romans are still The Millwall of PR 28.10mins How The Romans want to capitalise on its good start 29.20 mins Why PR firms launching new divisions is “a bit old hat” 30 mins Why Joe is bored of the “endless Cannes introspection” 30.58 mins Why great creativity is often a “kick the dog moment” 34.10 mins 

This week, on the PRmoment Podcast, I’m pleased to welcome founder of The Communications Store Julietta Dexter. Julietta established The Communications Store 23 years ago and it now has an income of £16m and employs 200 people – 180 in London and 20 in the US. The Communications Store has remained independent and is a specialist consultancy operating in fashion, beauty and lifestyle. Here is a summary of what Julietta and I discussed:  Why Julietta is so proud to have had the same job for the last 23 years. 1.03 mins Why Julietta has not had a “switch-off” holiday for the last 25 years and why that works for her. 2.30 mins Why her business partner Tom Konig-Oppenheimer decided to leave The Communications Store after 23 years and how Julietta and Tom managed his exit from the business. 3.26 mins and 32.15 mins Why Julietta started The Communications Store. 6.20 mins Why you learn more from jobs that you don’t like that those that you do like. 7.40 mins How the impact of Julietta’s father dying while she was in her final year at University influenced her career.  8.25 mins How Julietta and The Communications Store have bounced back from tough financial times. 12.40 mins Why the revenues of The Communications Store haven’t grown on a linear path. 13.50 mins How you have to dig deep at times when running a business.  16 mins Why Julietta is still excited about the future of her business. 16.10 mins How The Communications Store survived the financial crash of 2008. 18.32 mins Why has The Communications Store retained a focus on fashion, beauty and lifestyle rather than broadening the number of target verticals for the business? 22 mins Why a consultancy firm is better to have knowledge that’s a mile deep, rather than a mile wide. 24.40 mins Julietta reveals why she has never sold The Communications Store. 27 mins How Julietta’s long-term (23 years) business partnership Tom Konig-Oppenheimer worked. 29.15 mins How having a creative director helped to grow The Communications Store. 36 mins Julietta outlines the expansion plans for The Communications Store, including the expansion into the US market. 37.40 mins

This week on The PRmoment podcast I’m catching up with Neil Hedges, founder and partner at communications firm Headland. Neil has worked in the UK PR scene for nearly 40 years – so he knows his way around. Before setting up Headland, Neil was one of the founders of Fishburn Hedges – arguably UK PR’s pre-eminent PR shop of the 1990s and most of the noughties.Here is a taster of what Neil and I discussed: How Neil started his career in advertising and decided to move to public relations 0.46 Why PR’s current need for planners is history repeating itself 3.15 Why his time at time at Valin Pollen had a big influence on the rest of his career 4.15 Why a consultancy business is always likely to have very busy periods and some fallow ones 6.45 Why did Neil leave Valin Pollen? 7.20 Why Neil has never bought a business 9.20 How did the genesis of Fishburn Hedges come about? 10.10 Why there was a lot of mediocrity in PR firms in the 1990s 10.40 Why Fishburn was trying to build a business across corporate, financial and public affairs 11.20 Was Fishburn's growth uniform, or did it come in fits and starts? 12 mins Does Neil regret selling Fishburn to Abbott Mead Vickers, which was part owned Omnicom in 1996? 14.50 What was it like shifting from a privately owned business to a publicly owned business? 18.40 What was it like trying to run a publicly owned PR firm in 2008/09? 19.16 and 22 mins Why the response to the financial crisis shook his faith in America 20.15 Fishburn Hedges was the corporate PR shop in London throughout the 1990s and most of the noughties that most of its rival firms attempted to imitate. But in the end, its run of revenue growth came to a sharp halt. Neil tells us why 25 mins How agencies have their periods of ascendancy and tend to plateau 25.40 Neil tells us why he decided to try and do it all again and launch Headland 28.20 and 31.10 Why very few publicly owned PR firms have a financial PR offer 30.05 Why Neil chose a partnership model for Headland 32.15 Why Neil has ambitions for Headland’s partnership to last many generations 33.40 Why Neil’s long-term business relationship with Dan Mines has lasted so long 38.30 Why PR businesses, in the end, suffer if they are managed by practitioners 40 mins How Headland has grown so rapidly in the last three years 42.15 Why Headland runs a graduate scheme 48.15

This week, on the PRmoment Podcast, I’m pleased to welcome founder and managing director of W Communications Warren Johnson. Warren established W nine years ago and the business now has a fee income of circa £7.5m. W is the largest of a group of independent consumer agencies in London which are leading PR’s fight for creative work.Here is a flavour of what Warren and I discussed: Why he once left a career in PR to be become a builder Why if you’ve worked for someone for 10 years – you don’t really know what you know. Why he didn’t want to start W Communications Why Warren fell out of love with PR – first-time round Why Warren is a better senior PR person than a junior PR person Why Warren is ultimately driven by commercial success, not the quality of work Why people who confuse PR as a form of art are misguided Why Warren decided to self-fund his business, rather than taking backing or getting a partner What the growth path was of W Communications, from year one to now Why you work harder if you don’t have a backer Why PR firms shouldn’t need investment Why a sole owner business is often more collaborative Why Warren is more proud about his business success, than PR success. How W has kept growing and broken the £7m fee income barrier Why Warren has never written a business plan for W Why Warren believes any proper entrepreneur has to blend their business and personal lives Why social energy creates opportunity Why W bought in Mark Perkins as executive creative director and Adam Mack as CEO about a year ago Why W has bought a number of smaller PR firms in recent years Why W has managed to win larger clients in the last 12 months How PR firms with circa £1m fee income often struggle to grow Warren’s regrets and learnings about the House PR integration with W Communications Why Warren doesn’t want to buy firms and merge them into W Communications Why Warren has not sold W Communications Why, if an independent business is growing, most deals mean that the buyer is paying the founder from his or her own profits Why Warren expects a new wave of buyers for PR firms in the next five years Why PR people are the most agile and entrepreneurial of all the marcoms disciplines Why Warren believes PR firms will be competing with ad agencies for the big creative budgets sooner than people think Why the PR industry needs more swagger

This week on the PRmoment Podcast I’m pleased to welcome founder and CEO of Lewis Communications Chris Lewis.Chris established Lewis 25 years ago and today it is a truly global agency operating in 26 markets with a fee income of £50m and circa 500 employees. Lewis is the only current example of a British-owned PR and communications firm that has successfully scaled its business globally.Here is the flavour of what Chris and I discuss Why survival was the primary objective for Lewis Communications when Chris started the business 25 years ago How a lucky break (literally) gave Chris the opportunity to start Lewis PR How Lewis PR grew in the early years Why in a consultancy business it is always a team of leaders who is responsible for the growth of the business, not an individual leader Why PR firms must change their mindset when it comes to training and staff development Why good leaders should not be authoritarians, but water carriers Why Chris wrote the book The Leadership Lab on how leaders must utilise a wide enough diversity of opinion Why the growth of Lewis can be tracked by the arrival of people within the business How Chris found the right people to help him grow Lewis PR Why many PR people are brilliant professional advisors, but not commercially successful Why there is a fundamental difference in the professional culture between marketing services firms and professional services firms Why no Private Equity firms have sold a PR firm for more than they bought it for Why controlling your own balance sheet gives you control on how you invest Why the current environment of rapid change in the marcomms sector means that investment in technology and people has become even more critical Why the model of PR firms talking to their clients everyday gives communication firms a competitive advantage Whether Chris fears for the future of public relations Whether marketing has become a tactical business function, not a strategic function Why protecting the reputation of a brand has become far more complicated Why British businesses have a tremendous advantage globally; from timezones, to travel, to law and language Why Chris is surprised that more British PR firms have not scaled more rapidly internationally The three pieces of advice Chris has if you are thinking of setting up a PR firm Why profits are the byproduct of a business having a healthy culture Why most successful people are built on a litany of failure What re-investment looks like in a PR firm Why Chris wrote the books Too Fast To Think and The Leadership Lab Why leaders should never feel like that they are the brightest person in the room - their job is to make their team feel like the cleverest people in the room. Why the providence of certainty is mediocrity Why humility is a vital leadership trait The future plans for Lewis PR

This week on the PRmoment Podcast I’m pleased to welcome founder and CEO of Manifest Alex Myers.Manifest is a self defined brand communications agency and has a fee income of £3.5m.   Manifest has grown by 70% in the last financial year and has offices in London, New York and Stockholm.   Here is a summary of what Alex and I discuss:   How Alex got into PR PR outside of London and the burgeoning Huddersfield PR scene! Why Alex, a northern lad, set up his PR firm in London How the start of Manifest London came about through a mixture of naivety and bravado Whether Alex regrets initially having two other partners in Manifest Why Alex enjoys managing a business How, unwittingly, Manifest has taken a creative approach to building the business – from deciding what computers to use, to developing an appraisal system, to hiring new staff. How having children has changed the way Alex manages Manifest Why Alex found having a boss more stressful than being a boss How the hierarchical structure of large businesses can prevent a collaborative approach How Alex learnt the importance of brand communications over product-focused communications What was the genesis of Manifest’s approach to communications? Why communications is now the product for brands – and will define whether your customers buy your product Why modern communications is about building communities around brands How did Alex grow Manifest by 70% last year Why Manifest seeks out brands that will allow it to do the type of work it wants to do Why hires from outside of PR are vital to how Manifest has grown Why Manifest pays new employees £1,000 if they want to leave in the first three months How finding out new ways to think helps Alex come up with new ideas. Why a mix of cultures in a PR firm is vital to coming up with relevant ideas Why Alex believes everyone is creative – some people have just had it taught out of them Alex discusses his views on a “Shoreditch” approach to creativity How the Manifest offices in New York and Stockholm came about

This week on the PRmoment Podcast I talk to co founder of Hope&Glory James Gordon-Macintosh.James went to Cambridge University and has then only really had two jobs in PR - first at Fishburn Hedges, the consumer side of which morphed into 77 PR, and then he set up Hope&Glory with Jo Carr in 2011. Hope&Glory has a fee income today of approx £5.5m.Here is a flavour of what James and I discuss: How his first job was as a journalist writing about Brazilian debt equities! Why, from very early in his career, he always wanted to start his own PR firm How, from very early on, he planned his career to position himself to be able to set up his own firm Why James yearned for a career in consumer PR while working for then corporate PR shop Fishburn Hedges How James became MD of consumer PR firm 77 PR having never really worked in consumer PR Why James got together with Jo Carr to launch Hope&Glory Why James didn’t believe Hope&Glory was a massive risk Why confidence in yourself and your partner is critical in setting up your own firm How Hope&Glory have retained the feel and image of a fresh consumer shop in London Why successful consultancies must develop a broad range of work How James learnt the importance of getting Hope&Glory’s work talked about How does James retain his creative edge? How does Hope&Glory structure its idea creation process? Why curiosity is a vital ingredient of creativity How creativity is not a process but the delivery of creativity is How James and Jo Carr have grown Hope&Glory from £0 to a fee income of £5.5m in under 7 years Why Hope&Glory turned down more work in 2017 than they pitched for Why pitching for new business is important for PR firms Why James’ partnership with Jo Carr has been so successful Why good ideas are not channel specific Why James is more interested in good ideas than creativity. Why the current rate of change in social and digital media is not as rapid and some people would like to believe How the biggest change for consumer PR and marketing firms is the sophistication of client expectations and process Why James doesn’t worry too much about Brexit Why PR firms are gaining market share at the margins of digital and social briefs but there is not yet a trend of PR agencies successfully winning briefs that previously went to advertising agencies What are James’ 2 favourite campaigns that he’s worked on

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.This week on the PRmoment Podcast I’m pleased to welcome founder and MD of Cow PR Sian Morgan. Cow PR is a circa £3m fee income consumer PR shop in London. What’s interesting about Cow is that despite its relatively small size - it punches well above its weight creatively, and has done for basically the last 18 years so I want to discover from Sian how they have managed to do this.Here is a flavour of what I discuss with Sian: How Sian has managed the ups and downs of running her own business for the last 18 years through a couple of recessions Sian talks about how 8 years ago an office move almost spelt the end for Cow How Sian dealt with the stress of having breast cancer and running her own business Why having a business partner doesn't need to last forever How PR creative legends like Dan Glover, Mark Perkins and Matt Wilcock have all started their careers at Cow Why Sian would never hire a creative director - for Cow they need to be homegrown How Cow has retained its creative excellence over 18 years across a range of clients Why humour is a vital part of creative communications How Sian went from a “Tom Jones” groupie to setting up Cow How Sian learnt different things at Cohn & Wolfe, Red and Weber before setting up Cow Sian gives her thoughts on creative process and the genesis of creative ideas How the “creatives pairs” process works when dissecting a brief Why creativity is really hard work How ideas take time to mature Why creatives are able to take a different look at a brief Sian identifies what she looks for when identifying creative talent Why the wrong type of client will stifle creativity How over a 27 year career Sian has met less than 5 true creatives Why Sian believes creatives don’t come from PR, they come from brand What is it about Cow’s culture that has enabled it to punch above its weight creatively in London What does Cow do to help its people come up with interesting ideas Why Sian doesn't believe PR can get passionate about PR Why a lack of confidence can be crippling to coming up with creative ideas How the best creative ideas are really simple How PRs lack of measurement confidence is impacting how much consumer PR firms are able to charge for their ideas

This week on the PRmoment podcast I caught up with serial PR entrepreneur and founder of Shine Communications Rachel Bell. Here is a quick summary of what Rachel and I discussed: Why she left Fleishman Hillard as an account director in 1997 to set up Shine. How the death of her father impacted her decision to launch Shine. Why Shine Communications was launched. Why Rachel took her first new business call for Shine on the morning of her father's funeral. Whether the anger Rachel felt about her father’s death helped to launch Shine Why the launch of Shine represented no risk for Rachel, in her mind. How Shine, launched by Rachel, previously an account director at Fleishmanhillard, won the FA Premier League and Timberland accounts in its first year. Why pride is often the reason people don’t launch a new business. Why Rachel loves the “fire in the belly” approach of new businesses. Rachel talks about the growth of Shine in its early years. How Rachel has been involved in so many people’s start ups from John Doe, to Mischief, to Shine and Aduro. Why Mischief started out as a Shine conflict shop. I ask Rachel whether Shine would be a bigger business today if she hadn’t launched so many PR firms from it. Rachel identifies the attributes she believes PR entrepreneurs need. Rachel identifies the most common mistakes PR entrepreneurs make. How Rachel owns businesses outside PR that are bigger than all the PR businesses put together! How the Shine/The Academy merger came about. Whether Rachel shed a tear when the Shine brand disappeared

I’m pleased to welcome PRmoment’s Young Communicator of the Year, and data and research guru at Ketchum, Erin Salisbury.I wanted to interview Erin because I think we all pretty much get the need to increase the extent to which PR firms use data but Erin is at the frontline of this and I wanted to get her real world insight - from the client perspective, a colleague perspective and from a data and insight tools perspective.Here are some of the things Erin and I discuss; As a research and analytics manager in a PR firm how are you using data? How Ketchum are using data all the way through the system; from influencer identification, understanding key audiences, how they think and behave, how they consume media, from brand strategy through to micro campaigns What sources of data do PR firms need to use The extent to which PR firms should use personalised and non personalised data How PR firms need to plug together the most useful blend of data touchpoints Why the data used will depend on the client objectives, what they have access to and what clients can afford The use of data can be broad from business critical challenges to more tactical activations Can PR firms do their jobs effectively if clients don't give them access to their customer data trends? How has the increased amount of data available to PR and marketing professionals impacted on planning and evaluation? The impact of GDPR on the use of data for PR firms Where is the spectrum of personalised and non personalised data, from a practical and ethical perspective? How the digital marketing sector is trying to link the customers digital journey, and why ethical and legal developments like GDPR may well slow that journey How digital has decreased PRs measurement problem Whether PR as a sector is no worse at measurement that advertising peers, they are just more paranoid about it Why the breadth of PR tactics available means that PR is a more complicated measurement proposition than any other marketing channel On the basis that virtually all campaigns are integrated, what are the implications of this from a measurement perspective? How do you integrate data across paid, earned, shared and owned channels? Is a channel specific attribution approach falsely simplified? What approach to tool integration does Ketchum take? Do you choose specialist ones or do you try and use one tool that does lots of things? What's the future of data on PR? Are we moving towards econometrics? Does PR have anything to fear when it comes to identifying its contribution?

This week, in the second of our PR Trailblazers interviews, on The PRmoment Podcast we’ve got founder of Ready 10 - David Fraser.David spent 12 years at Frank PR before setting up Ready 10 in 2016.I wanted to get David on the show because I thought he would bring an interesting perspective to a couple of things. First if all, he worked for a big consumer PR firm before he decided to gamble and set up Ready 10. He’s only 2 years in and I know that for the first 18 months he wrote a work diary of things he learnt, so I thought it would be good to review some of those entries in hindsight.David set up Ready 10 to compete at the intersection of PR and SEO, which is not an unfamiliar positioning statement but I get the impression PR is still punching well below its SEO weight and I wanted to talk to David about the reasons for this.David is also and experienced podcaster: He presents and helps produce the award winning qpr pod - so possibly, purely for selfish reasons, I wanted to talk to him about what makes a decent podcast!Here is a summary of what David and I discuss:How David got his first job by taking a 50% pay cut!Why he was always in a hurry in his early PR careerWhat made him want to leave the support network at Frank to set up on his own?Why David positioned Ready 10 at the intersection of PR and SEOWhy brands are looking for an SEO solution to their PR needsThe impact of Google's algorithm changes on public relationsThe crazy situation of the SEO sector needing to be more creative, and the creative PR sector not being interested in the link buildingWhy the PR industry is so reticent to grab the gift of SEODavid tells us why he wrote a diary of the first 18 months of launching Ready 10How launching a business was, at times, a lonely experience and why the diary became therapeutic for DavidDavid tells us why he was so scared when he launched Ready 10How Ready 10 has been structured to appeal to millennial employeesDavid tells us three things he’s got wrong since launching Ready 10Having worked closely with Alan Sugar for 10 years - David tells us “what he’s really like!”As an experienced podcaster with the qpr pod, David gives us some advice

This is the first of a new format series on the PRmoment Podcast. We’re going to continue our Life Stories series but I wanted to make sure we include the stories of younger, up and coming talent who are trailblazing impressive careers. So welcome to the first of our Trailblazers PRmoment Podcasts.  I’m pleased to welcome the founder and MD of PRmoment’s B2B agency of the year, Victoria Usher.I wanted to interview Victoria for a couple of reasons. First of all because Victoria came into PR relatively late in her career; she didn’t start working in public relations until she was 33.Also, until she moved into PR Victoria’s career was predominantly spent as a data analyst. So I reckon there’s probably some interesting stuff to talk about on how a data analyst built a PR firm.And finally I wanted to talk to Victoria about GingerMay. GingerMay only launched in 2010, already employs 40 people and has a fee income of £3.5m. What’s also interesting about GingerMay is that they refuse all project work - that £3.5m is made up of only retainer clients!Here is a taster or what Victoria and I discussed: Why did an experienced research analyst decide to launch a PR firm? Why Victoria would never describe herself as entrepreneurial. How she set out to build GingerMay gradually, steadily and organically How GingerMay is built with data at the centre of it Defining what “a data driven rigeur” means in a public relations business How GingerMay uses qualitative and quantitative deep dive studies with clients, carried out by its own data analysts How senior members of staff respond to GingerMay’s data investigation Why changes in the research sector have had big and positive implications for public relations Why a project based agency?: Client relationships don’t benefit the client or the agency Why a slow burn campaign will always be more effective than a short term splash How GingerMay train staff for 6 months before they go “client-side”. How GingerMay has grown to a £3.5m firm so quickly Why launching a PR firm having never worked in an agency is both an advantage and a disadvantage Why, as a client, PR firms can appear untransparent Why mentoring benefits both the mentor and the mentee How Non Exec Director roles have helped GingerMay grow its business Why a good mentor won’t give you the answer! Why Victoria is so frustrated at the inability of businesses to see the assets they have in working parent

This week on the PRmoment podcast I caught up with Mark Flanagan, the UK MD of Portland. The Omnicom owned agency is a rare example of an PR firm owned by a holding group that has a recent track record of double digit growth. What is it that has enabled Portland to grow much faster than almost all other PR firms owned by a holding company owned? Mark has had an interesting career; he has had big jobs outside of PR and communications before make the move into public relations, first of all within government and now agency side. Here is a flavour of what Mark and I discuss: Why did Mark make the move from MD at LBC radio to a role in PR? Why Mark used to be a radio DJ? Mark compares working in government to working in the corporate world Whether Mark enjoyed working for UK government communications, firstly for Tony Blair and then Gordon Brown… How Mark replaced the Foreign Secretary with Eddie Izzard at a European Council meeting! How Mark loved the camaraderie of working in government communications Why the transition into agency world was harder than Mark thought it was going to be Why when Oliver Pauley, the previous UK MD left Portland, a pretty corporate agency, they appointed Mark (its digital guy) to the top job How the Omnicom owned PR firm has sustainably grown at double digit growth, when most of  its holding company peer agencies have not been able to grow and anything like that rate (my words not Mark’s) Why Portland attempts to constantly re-invent itself The dangers of commoditised, lower margin work for an agencies survival How can an agency of Portland’s size create an entrepreneurial culture How Portland’s bonus scheme is critical to its growth and entrepreneurial approach Why Portland has taken a flexible and pragmatic approach to its international expansion What is the Portland model – is London the epicentre of the strategy and content with the regional offices doing the execution? The importance of language capabilities in modern public relations How Portland has built a design and content central function of 20 people Why design and content people sitting next to the account teams creates a more integrated, faster solution Why becoming a more integrated firm has changed Portland’s culture and increased the firms diversity Why Mark believes PR, comms and reputation consultancies should continue to thrive How Mark believes the likes of Portland must help clients measure the ROI of its strategic advice Why procurement hasn’t impacted corporate PR Why Mark believes the financial PR sector is ripe for disruption

This week on the PRmoment podcast I’m pleased to welcome Bibi Hilton, UK managing director at Golin. Here is a flavour of what Bibi and I discuss: Why she has stayed at one agency for so long Why autonomy is important in a networked PR agency Why she likes working for large networked firms Bibi identifies the biggest changes in PR in the last 16 years - and it’s not just spray mount and fax machines! Why the fundamentals of public relations have not changed Bibi marks PR out of 10 for how well it is performing against its marketing peers The lessons 6 years on from restructuring the people within Golin from generalists to specifically skilled communities within the business. In Golin’s case these communities were Strategists, Creators, Connectors and Catalysts. Why Golin’s specialist model lead to the firm having a more diverse workforce Why the high cost of living in London is partly responsible for the talent shortage in PR Whether finding talent has become easier as a result of their specialist structure  Why Bibi believes there is still a lack of opportunities for women in business What are the legacy issues that contribute to the gender pay gap How returnships are a key driver in reducing the gender pay gap Why returnship schemes in PR have not scaled as quickly as hoped What can PR firms do to make flexible working easier Why research suggests that there is a gender paygap even in the early stages of a PR career Why Bibi has never set up her own PR firm Why Bibi believes she experiences a greater breadth of work by working at a large agency Why busy CEOs like Bibi volunteer for groups like Women in PR

This week on the PRmoment Podcast I’m pleased to welcome the Chief Global Officer of Talk PR Tanya Hughes. Talk PR is owned by M&C Saatchi with annual revenues of approx £4.5 million. There are 2 things that make Tanya and Talk PR a particularly interesting story. One is that it most of its income comes from within its very defined market market specialism of beauty PR The second is that an independent UK firm -  60% of its income comes from global work. Here is a flavour of what Tanya and I discuss: How the pace of change in public relations makes it a great place to work How digital influencers and Instagram have transformed beauty and fashion PR How Instagram and YouTube have marginalised beauty bloggers Why the importance of editorial coverage has risen again, following the “moras” of digital influencers Why the trend for social media influencers has created an authority problem in earned media Why the fashion and beauty business is vital for UK plc and brand Britain. How Tanya and her current business partner Jane Boardman have on and off worked together for 30 years What it takes to make a business partnership work for 30 years Why Talk PR has retained a specialism in only the beauty and lifestyle sectors How the genesis of Talk PR came about as the consumer PR arm of M&C Saatchi How, as a UK firm with no offices internationally, 60% of Talk’s revenue is global How and why Tanya built up the Sermo global network of beauty PR firms Whether global networks of independent firms really work from a client perspective, or are they just clubs of like minded agencies? How a potentially business critical problem lead to Tanya setting up the Sermo network Whether there are really any truly global PR campaigns Why Tanya believes global networks can’t have sufficiently specialist teams across multiple markets Why Tanya believes global networks will always have pockets of brilliance and pockets of crap! Whether you are more likely to make it as a premiership footballer than an influencer. What are the vital attributes of a beauty and fashion influencer What is the average “life” cycle of a beauty or fashion influencer

This week I'm thrilled to be catching up with Dan Glover, co-founder and creative director of The Academy. If you look at the most famous consumer PR campaigns in the UK over the last 10 years or so, most of them (not all) have come from a very small number of PR creatives (probably less than 10) and Dan, with his work with The National Trust, Kellogs and Heathrow is undoubtedly a member of this pretty unique club.Here’s a summary of some of what Dan and I discuss: Why Dan doesn’t think he’s creative How great creatives need to ask questions and activate against those opinions Why creative directors must be client facing How empathy and problem solving are vital parts of creative thinking How cultural curiosity helps Dan’s creativity Dan defines what he believes is the role of a creative director How and why Dan condensed his GCSE geography syllabus into one word! Why Dan believes creativity as a process is difficult to teach Dan discusses how his creative approach has changed from his time at Cow, through to Mischief and now at The Academy Why communications must be simple, without dumbing them down Why Dan believes no consumer PR firm, including The Academy, have fulfilled the ambition and potential of the current power of public relations Why there has never been a better time for PR to position itself as the lead creative discipline How Dan believes that there are a set of consumer PR firms in London that are capable of producing business defining creative work Why no brief should include the phrase “raise awareness”  Why a chasing headlines, tactical and stunty approach to creativity is unlikely to change the perception of a brand Why it’s difficult for PR people to compete with the creativity of ad agencies if they are working on multiple accounts Why your best work may not need to be more creative, the activation just needs to be bigger Why Dan used to find award nights where he won the worst nights of the year How many bad ideas does Dan have before he gets a good idea! Whether Ad agencies are coming up with with better creative ideas for earned media than PR agencies Why a lot of PR campaigns are low budget because clients have a lack of confidence in the discipline Dan identifies his top three favourite pieces of work that he’s done

This week on the PRmoment podcast I interviewed Caroline Kinsey, founder and chairman of Cirkle PR. Caroline set up Cirkle 20 years ago and today it has a £3.5 million independent PR firm.Here is a taster of what Caroline and I discuss:How it feels to have run a business for 20 yearsWhy Caroline started her own businessHow she developed her entrepreneurial spiritHow an independent firm like Cirkle manages its ups and downsWhy Cirkle started in Caroline’s converted garageCaroline identifies Cirkle’s Willy Wonka golden ticket momentHow Caroline launched Cirkle with no agency experienceWhy employers must never underestimate the responsibility of employing peopleCaroline discusses the impact of Cirkle MD and shareholder Anne Kendall passing away in 2014, after a tough battle with pancreatic cancerHow PR has stepped up in recent timesWhy good public relations must now involve high quality strategic corporate council alongside high quality activationWhether PR as a sector is grabbing market share from other areas of the marcomms mixHow wellness at work can still thrive in a time intensive, deadline driven environment like public relations

This week on the PRmoment Podcast I’m talking to Frank PR co-founder and Chairman – Graham Goodkind. Graham started his career at Lynne Franks PR, rising from account exec to MD. He left Lynne Franks when it was sold to Ketchum in 1998. He then became a bit if an internet entrepreneur before starting Frank in 2000.Here are the highlights of what Graham and I discuss: How Graham developed a passion for the media What it was like working at Lynne Franks PR, where Graham started as an account exec ended up as MD. Where he learnt how to run a profitable PR firm How he started the internet start-up Another.com? What the genesis was for Frank PR Whether it’s possible for a consumer PR firm like Frank to retain an "edgy" market position for a prolonged period of time Why there is no correlation between the quality of an idea and the amount of time you spend developing it How Frank PR has been able to retain it “talkablility” edge? How Frank PR has managed to retain its good margins in a very competitive consumer agency market. How Frank has retained its ability to come up with ideas? The 3 pieces of advice Graham would give to young entrepreneurs starting up a consumer PR firm today How it came about that Graham, in effect, sold Frank and then bought 25% back What the structure of the deal was that was agreed with Photon (now Enero) and how it became unstuck What’s different about running an independent firm compared to one owned by a holding company? What the future hold for Graham Goodkind How Graham outranks Jamie Murray in a racquet sport ranking"

This week on the PRmoment Podcast we’ve got Lord Tim Bell. Lord Bell started his career as a runner in an advertising firm and ended up becoming the one of the most high profile PR people in the world. Synonymous with The Conservative Party of the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher and the now defunct Bell Pottinger - it’s been quite a career. Here are the highlights of what we discuss: Lord Bell’s perspective on the demise of Bell Pottinger How Bell Pottinger might have survived the Oakbay Capital/Gupta scandal How he feels about the PR firm he founded 25 years earlier going into administration How he came to make the move from advertising to PR The insider's perspective on his role advising the Conservative Government of Margaret Thatcher. How government communications has changed since the 1980s What was behind the growth of Bell Pottinger in 1988 to a £27m business in 2016 What was the rationale behind taking Bell Pottinger out of the wider Chime Group? As a big beast of British public relations – looking back on his career what does Lord Bell believe his legacy will be? Has the Bell Pottinger Oakbay Capital scandal affected Lord Bell’s legacy? Why Lord Bell believes the PR industry is “always taking the wrong path” What happened in the factory of Bell Pottinger - the Bell Pottinger London office How many cigarettes Lord Bell has a day

The Edelman Trust Barometer: A recording of our live stream video with Edelman Intelligence UK head Louise Turner. Howard Kosky from markettiers and James Erskine from Social CircleConsumers are less trusting of social media and continue to be sceptical of government, business, media and NGOs in the UK. This is according to the 2018 Trust Barometer, PR firm Edelman’s 18th annual trust and credibility survey.The UK version of the Edelman Trust Barometer found that social media companies have lost the trust of most of the public, with only a quarter of the UK population now saying that they trust social media as a source for news and information. Where social media companies were once seen as champions of free speech and democracy, they are now seen as not taking enough responsibility for key issues including extremism, fake news, and cyberbullying. As a consequence, the majority of people are now calling for greater regulation in the sector.Key statsThere is a huge increase in trust in traditional media (61%), reaching levels not seen since 2012. But it is not all good news, as people are consuming less traditional media and some are actively avoiding it altogether (19%).There is a rebound in faith in experts and leaders.Only 6% of people now consider themselves part of the informed public – those who consume business or political news several times a week, this is an all-time low.News rejecters say the news agenda is too depressing (40%), that the news is too biased, and that the news itself is controlled by “hidden agendas”.Trust in government remains very low at 36% and the majority feel as though their views are not represented in politics today.When looking at the bigger picture, Britain remains subdued with distrust continuing across the board and Britons are becoming more pessimistic about their economic outlook.The biggest concerns for the future of Britain include ensuring the NHS is able to provide care for an ageing and growing population (79%) and the worry of rising political or religious extremism (72%).Only 20% feel their standard of living will improve in 2018 and 36% expect it to worsen.These findings show that business communicators have an opportunity to offer the public better news, especially as there is increasing trust in CEOs.

This week, PRmoment founder Ben Smith interviews Ketchum UK ceo Jo-ann Robertson as part of our series of one to one interviews with some of the most senior people in UK PR.Jo-ann has recently been appointed as UK ceo to Ketchum having been at the firm since 2011. Previously she spent eight years at Weber Shandwick. Jo-ann graduated in 2002 with a BA in Politics from the University of Strathclyde.

PRmoment founder Ben Smith recently interviewed Lord Chadlington as part of our series of one to one podcasts with some of the most senior people in UK PR

In the latest of a series of podcasts with PR industry leaders in the UK PRmoment founder Ben Smith recently interviewed Threepipe owner Jim Hawker

In the latest of a series of podcasts with PR industry leaders in the UK PRmoment founder Ben Smith recently interviewed Mark Borkowski

This week I caught up with Francis Ingham CEO of The PRCA. This is the latest in a series of PRmoment Podcasts with some of the leading lights of UK PR. The PRCA has grown from an organisation with revenues of £700K to one of nearly £3.2m during Ingham's ten-year tenure. Francis and I discuss:How he was brought up on a Manchester council estate Why he hated school and refused to go for year Why he left home and school at 16 and spent two years living in the local catholic hostel How the headmaster at his school subsidised his education How he got into Oxford University Why he’s always been good at "arguing back!"How his time at Oxford shaped his passion for politics Why he left the CIPR for the PRCA His greatest achievement at The PRCA What’s next in Francis Ingham's career path 

This week I caught up with Angie Moxham, chief monkey at 3 Monkeys Zeno. This is the latest in a series of PRmoment Podcasts with some of the leading lights of UK PR.Angie and I discuss: How she helped build one company, lost it and then built another one How she went to state school and then went to Oxford What it’s like at Oxford, coming from a state school background Her time at Le Fevre Communications How it came about that Le Fevre was sold for £1 What were her worst moments in her career Why she started 3 Monkeys How she grew 3 Monkeys to become a £6m PR firm in 2015* What the sale process looked like when Zeno bought 3 Monkeys* According to the 2016 PRWeek League Tables

In a not unexpected move, the The Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) announced last week that it had imposed its most serious sanction on Bell Pottinger, following its investigation into Bell Pottinger's work for Oakbay Capital in South Africa. The investigation followed a complaint from South Africa's Democratic Alliance. Bell Pottinger will not be eligible to reapply for corporate membership of the PRCA for a minimum period of five years. On the face of it, the PRCA had little choice but to expel Bell Pottinger; if they had not, its own credibility would have been on the line. But the PRCA has been criticised over its handling over a number of issues resulting from Bell Pott Gate and here Francis Ingham covers these. We discuss: Whether the PRCA feels guilty about the impact of the PRCA's decision to expel Bell Pottinger on the large number of potentially innocent staff, who this week, could be concerned about their jobs. Bearing in mind that the PRCA is not a regulatory body, and has approximately 20,000 members in an industry of about 80,000 professionals, by making a push for regulation is the PRCA trying to be something it is not? Whether Francis Ingham regrets that the PRCA sent a promotional email which used the Bell Pottinger scandal to promote the benefits its membership offer. Thanks to Shout! Communications for helping us to produce this podcast

Today we're interviewing Colin Byrne, CEO of Weber Shandwick UK and EMEA – in the latest of our series of interviews with some of the most high-profile leaders in UK public relations. By day Colin is CEO of the UK's most award-winning PR firm, with 35 years’ communications experience, by night he's a writer, aspiring novelist and musician.His PR experience spans domestic and international public relations.He joined Weber Shandwick in 1995, rising to lead the public affairs practice in London in 1997. He is now CEO of the firm’s UK and EMEA network and a senior member of the global management team. He’s recently announced he’ll be stepping down after more than 20 years at the helm.After several years in private and not-for-profit sector PR, Colin joined the British Labour Party’s communications team in 1987 and was quickly promoted to head of press and broadcasting. He was press aide to Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Jack Straw.He is a visiting fellow at The Reuters School of Journalism at Oxford University and a trustee of ActionAid UK and The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation. Colin and I discuss: How he began his career in public relations, finding himself as a press officer at the Automobile Association having previously been unaware that PR existed! How he was very interested in politics from a very early age. Why a letter to Peter Mandelson (then comms director at the Labour Party) in response to an interview Mandelson had done with the Guardian transformed Colin’s career. Why having a mentor was critical to his success. Why Colin never wanted to work for a PR agency. How he enjoyed his time “as a reasonably prominent moth around the Blair flame”.. The challenges of being an agency CEO. The importance of PR people embracing new technologies. Why he’s planning on going “from a well-remunerated senior PR professional to being a penniless aspirant writer”. Why most of the change in public relations over the past 50 years has happened in the last 10 years. How social media and Cannes Lions opening up to PR firms has driven this change. Why we need more kids in PR who are like Jamal Edwards. Why we are living in era of excellent public relations work. Why PR must own the idea. How public relations must recruit from other creative professions, rather than merely recycling “our own”. Colin’s advice for people entering public relations as a career today. Why public relations is now a profession, not just a job, and therefore it needs to act like a profession.

2017 marks the centenary of the Government Communications Service. To mark the occasion I recently interviewed Alex Aiken, Executive Director for Government Communications on his top three historical campaigns for the UK government communications in the last 100 years.In a wide-ranging discussion Alex and I discussed the context in which the government communication service was founded in 1917 by John Buchan, who interestingly was also the author of the novel 39 Steps. Alex and I discuss the role of the communications innovator Stephen Tallents and his work to move communications from a broadcast discipline to one of dialogue.Alex believes that at the core of government communications is the need to tell the truth credibly. He goes on to talk about how communications now plays a central role in the business of government and is a powerful tool for the government of the day, alongside legislation, regulation and taxation. He believes communications is now recognised as one of the leading professions within government because it delivers for business and government departments. In identiufying his top three historical campaigns he compared the Empire Marketing Board campaign with today's Trade with Britain campaign. He also identified the Keep Calm and Carry On campaign from the war years as one of his favourites. Finally the ongoing public health campaigns that play an important educational role in keeping Britain healthy also make his top 3.

We recently caught up with Henry Playfoot, founder of The Pitch Doctor to discuss the rights and wrongs of the pitch process. Henry reckons the pitch process is not the best way to match the needs of the client with the right agency and discusses why a more collaborative approach would work better for everyone.

I recently spoke to Ali Gee, deputy CEO at FleishmanHillard Fishburn in London, about the the measurement of public relations. I asked Ali whether as a profession, public relations is in danger of becoming paranoid about measurement? And whether PR is any worse at evaluating our work than our advertising friends? We also discuss whether, in an integrated world, it is possible to identify the contribution of public relations to the campaign objectives? Finally, Ali talks about whether she sees any any evidence that in-house teams are prioritising measurement more than they were, and what the role of PR agencies is in moving the PR measurement debate forward?

Francis Ingham from The PRCA talks about the Whirlpool / Hotpoint tumble dryer crisis by PRmoment

I recently caught up with Tony Langham to discuss entrepreneurship in PR. Tony set up Lansons with Claire Parsons 28 years ago and today Lansons has a fee income of circa £11 million pounds.I discussed with Tony:- How to keep a culture of entrepreneurship within a 28 year old business.- How Tony maintains his personal drive having lead Lansons for 28 years.- We talked about the British culture of successful independententrepreneurial PR firms and discussed the challenges of the "early" years, the "middle" years and why it is that so few have successfully gone globalTony also identifies his three secrets of entrepreneurial success inpublic relations

Harvard's fee income today it's close to five million pounds. In 2011 this had fallen to £1.6 million. Previously in about the year 2000 Harvard had been a 200 people agency with 5 offices with a fee income of circa seven million annually.I recently caught up with Ellie Thompson, MD of PR and AR at Harvard and Louie St Clare Group MD to talk about what it takes to bring a PR firm back from the brink.

In our latest mini podcast we caught up with Farhad Koodoruth, Co-Founder at Threepipe to discuss the evolution of search marketing and the increasing crossover between search and public relations.

Through the numerous pitches and RFPs that we all enjoy, I suspect the majority of PRmoment readers have a pretty good understanding of how the purchasing process for domestic PR briefs works. However, many of the bigger accounts reside in global campaigns/retainers. How this business is pitched for and won is probably less well understood.PRmoment recently caught up with Tanya Hughes, president of the Sermo Communications, an international hub of independent PR firms, and PR agency Talk PR.We ask Tanya:Whether global work really is global?Where the majority of global work comes from?What is the decision making process for deciding the long list for global work?What does it take to build a successful international network of independents?

As part of our series of interviews reviewing 2016 I recently caught up with PRCA director general and ICCO CEO Francis Ingham. Francis identified the following trends for UK PR in 2016: UK public relations has grown by approximately 10% in 2016 according to the PRCA numbers, following a similar growth pattern of recent years.Public relations is becoming more blended disciplineNiche specialist agencies are doing well, alongside agencies with an international offer. Mid-sized generalist agencies having a far tougher time as media relations becomes commoditised.Brexit created a period of uncertainty for the pr sector but we've yet to see a significant downturn. Some sectors, notably public affairs, have thrived since the June vote.

As part of a series of interviews reviewing 2016 I caught up with Giles Fraser, co-founder, of Brands2Life.Key trends from 2016 that Giles identifies include:There has been a continued demand for creative campaigns and content across all formats.Increasingly marketing directors are purchasing from PR agencies. They are keen to talk to PR firms because they recognise that they have good ideas, produce good content and can drive engagement quickly.To be successful PR firms need a broader range of skills than ever before

As part of a series of interviews to review public relations in 2016 I thought it would be interesting to look in detail at one of the major challenges for PR agencies and increasingly for in-house PR and communications teams - finding enough appropriately skilled people.Joining me is Alice Weightman founder and CEO of Hanson search.Alice identifies three recruitment trends in 2016: •The rise of the freelancer.•The desire for candidates to have multiple skill sets.•The impact of a decreasing number of retainer clients being that PR agencies require more commercially minded people to win business more regularly.Alice has plenty more to say in the full interview: She identifies what PR agencies get wrong in the recruitment of talent and names the top talent requirements for 2017.

Ben Smith, the founder of PRmoment, recently caught up with Cision and PR Newswire CEO (EMEA and India) to discuss why Cision has spent over $1.5bn on PR service providers